When Magical Worlds Collide
by sakurakitkat
Summary: Sakura and friends, along with Hotaru Tomoe, are to attend Hogwarts school to refine their powers. The group tries to survive their first year but evil is brewing, and what does the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher have to do with it?
1. What the a Letter Delivering Owl?

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

What the…a Letter Delivering Owl

Several years after her fight with the reincarnated version of Clow Reed, Eriol Hiiragizawa, a very powerful sorcerer, Sakura Kinomoto thought things were finally getting back to normal. At least, as normal as it can get for her. Originally the Clow cards, the Sakura cards were created to help Sakura's power grow and save the world from a catastrophe. Through her journey she made a lot of friends that would do anything to help her, and in Tomoyo's case, to also film her. Sakura's friend Syaoran Li was always willing to put up a good fight to protect her, by using his own brand of magic.

Syaoran is a descendant of Clow Reed, so having been born with powers was no surprise. For Sakura, however, it came as a great shock to find that she had any power-not to mention finding out that her father, Fujitaka Kinomoto, was the other half of Clow's reincarnated self.

All this was behind her now. Sakura, along with her friends, was now 15 and in high school, no longer the child who was thrown into the world of magic. She was now able to fully control the cards and would only use them in a dyer emergency, or at the least, tormenting her older brother, Touya.

Touya's best friend, Yukito Tsukishiro, also known as Yue, was created to protect the master, or mistress, of the cards. Yue, an angel warrior figure, is Yukito's true form, but only transforms when Sakura is in danger.

Another guardian to help Sakura is a large, winged lion, named Cerberus, however only part of the time is he considered **large**. Most of the time he's in his false form, which resembles that of a rather small winged plush toy, whom Sakura and Tomoyo fondly call Kero-chan.

As all the Clow cards, or should I say Sakura cards, are all under Sakura's control, she's been able to settle down into her normal routine: getting to school just-in-time, going to cheerleading practice, and just being able to hang out with her friends.

Even though Syaoran was supposed to return to his home in Hong Kong, he found it best to stay in Japan with Sakura, after the realization that they loved each other. Syaoran's mother protested at first but knew it was best if he stayed with Sakura, "just-in-case." With the amount of magical energy emanating from her being, Sakura could be a victim of a power-seeking madman at any time. Well, this was the excuse given to Syaoran's mom, anyway.

Of course, with anyone possessing powers, a time of peace is only short lived. With this in mind Sakura and her friends decided to live each day without worry and without magic, as much as possible. This tactic worked for a while, that is, until the letters started to arrive.

"Hey, Sakura!" Touya shouted. "You've got mail." Sakura heard him from her room. 'I'm not expecting any letters,' she thought. 'I wonder who it can be from.' Sakura walked down stairs to find Touya looking suspiciously at the owl perched on his arm. Sakura noticed an envelope in the owl's beak.

"What the…a letter delivering owl?" she asked. "Right…" She grabbed the letter and ran upstairs to her room to examine it. She ripped open the envelope, barely even noticing the odd seal that secured the letter.

Dear Sakura,

We are writing to inform you that Japan has just signed an agreement with the Minister of Magic, and is now being asked to keep our magic wielding under wraps. We are to avoid detection of the muggles, or non-magic wielding citizens. As you may already know, there have been a lot of disturbances involving magic, and has been broadcast on the news for everyone, especially muggles, to see. Such instances involve a "Sailor Moon," another was a young girl seen flying on what looked to be a wand with wings.

To this Sakura could only say, "Ho-e," which was her word quite frequently used to express either embarrassment or confusion, before she continued reading.

Because of these disturbances, we are being asked to regulate the use of magic, and have to report any misuse of magic. Misuse is referring to any magic being used before the wielder is of the rightful age of 18, or 17 depending on the year their studies are complete; doing magic in plain sight of muggles, without the proper precautions; or for any purposes involving evil or the like.

To solve the said problems, all magic users not of age are to be sent to special schools to receive the proper training. As for those of age, they will be having check-ups to ensure they understand the need for this cooperation.

Enclosed, you will find the name of the school you will be attending, a list of supplies you will need, and advice on how to acquire these items and how to get to your school. You will also find enclosed a charm to help you speak and understand any language, just in case you're not already fluent in the languages spoken at the school you are to attend. The charm can only work as long as you wear it.

Sincerely,

Yoshi Yamomoto

Ministry of Magic

Sakura then set the letter down and checked the list of supplies. Most of the items she'd never be able to find in a million years. 'It's a good thing they've included this advice sheet,' she thought. Sakura looked at the advice given and it had included information about a portkey, or transportation device that would be placed at Tomoeda Elementary on July 29th to take her, and any others in that area, to Diagon Alley to purchase the needed supplies. It also included a message stating that there would be a ride from Diagon Alley to Kings Cross Station to take her to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Hogwarts?" she asked to no one. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Hogwarts?" asked Kero. "What's that?" Kero had appeared from his little room in Sakura's desk drawer.

"Oh, Kero, I got a letter saying I have to attend a magic school so I can properly use magic, or something." Kero looked at the letter inquisitively.

"Well, it looks authentic enough; maybe you should call the brat to see if he's gotten one as well. He does have some power after all."

"When are you going to stop calling him a brat? I mean, we are 15 now."

"Yeah, but I love to annoy him by calling him that." Sakura just shook her head at Kero. She was about to pick up the phone to call Syaoran when the phone started to ring.

"Hello…Oh hi Syaoran-kun, I was just about to call you…Yeah I got a letter…I'm not sure what this means, but we'll have to show up at this 'portkey' to find out…My charm? Oh, yeah, I forgot to check." She took the charm out of the envelope, and attached it to her clothing. "Mine's a wing shaped pin, what's yours?" Syaoran's charm was a sword shaped pin that looked almost exactly like the one used to harness his powers, only smaller.

"We only have a few short weeks to get ready," said Sakura. "I don't know how I'm going to tell my family. But, I suppose if we're going to be using magic we'll have to go. I'm so glad you're going to the same school as me, I don't know if I'd be able to make it all by myself. I mean if it wasn't for you and Tomoyo-chan…Oh, no how am I going to tell Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked sadly. "I guess I should try and explain this to her now before it gets too hard to say good-bye…Okay Syaoran-kun, I'll talk to you later."

To Sakura's surprise Tomoyo didn't take the news quite as hard as she thought, but Tomoyo was still very upset, especially since she wouldn't be able to film Sakura anymore. Tomoyo knew that her friend couldn't live without using magic, so it would be useless to convince Sakura otherwise. If she was going to have to say good-bye to her friend for the next couple of years, Tomoyo was sure to want to catch every last moment she could, taping Sakura. During their conversation, however, something very unusual happened.

"Hey, Sakura," said Tomoyo," could you hold on for a second. I have an owl at my window."

"What!" Sakura cried, but had to wait for a response, as Tomoyo had set the phone down to investigate the owl.

"Sakura, it looks like I'm going to be joining you to Hogwarts; unfortunately, the ministry knows about my filming and informed me that because of magical interference electronic equipment can't work on school grounds," Tomoyo said this in a sort of pout, but she quickly changed her tune. "But I can at least be there to watch your magic grow."

"That's great, Tomoyo-chan", Sakura had now grown so accustomed to Tomoyo's filming she'd learned to block out most any mention of it. "I thought it was going to be difficult to leave you, now I won't have to-wait, I didn't think you had any magical powers."

"That's funny," said Tomoyo, "neither did I. But I suppose we'll find out soon enough." Unfortunately for Sakura, explaining this to her brother and father wasn't going to be that easy.

Most of the answers of "no" were coming from her brother. Sakura's father just smiled in that kind way of his and decided to let the two work the problem out in their own way. "No way am I letting you go anywhere with that kid!" shouted Touya, referring to Syaoran.

"But big brother, Tomoyo's going too and besides, it's not like we won't be supervised. The ministry is even going to send someone, a responsible adult even, to meet us at the portkey, and to escort us all the way to the train station. If you don't believe me you can come with us to the portkey and check for yourself." A lot more protesting on Touya's behalf followed but he finally gave in, after all, it wasn't Sakura he couldn't trust but it was the 'kid' he was convinced he couldn't trust.

Meanwhile…in a house not too far from Sakura's, another young magic user had just received her letter.

Staring out of her bedroom window from the most bizarre experience she'd ever encountered, Hotaru Tomoe held the letter that would change her life. Changes were all too common occurrence to her, 'You'd think I'd start to see this coming,' she thought.

Hotaru Tomoe is a member of the Sailor Soldiers, of which Sailor Moon is the leader of. Hotaru is known best as Sailor Saturn, the one ruling over death and destruction. She has the power to destroy worlds with just three words. A few years back she had to use her power to destroy an evil entity. If not for Sailor Moon Hotaru would surely be dead. Sailor Moon, or better known as Usagi, brought her back to life as a baby. Later that year there was another evil bent on destroying the world that awakened Hotaru to about the age of 10. After which she came to live with Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune or Haruka and Michiru respectively. Her father is now in the hospital, and has been since Hotaru had been transformed into a baby. But they visit him often. Things had finally started getting normal, no evil trying to erase humanity or anything like that, but now an owl was just at her window.

After reading the letter, Haruka and Michiru walked in, each carrying a letter of their own.

"So you've received one as well," said Haruka.

"You both have to go to a school too?" asked Hotaru.

"No, we don't, but you do, since you're only 15, you still have several years before you're 'legally' able to use your powers," said Haruka.

"Then what did your letters say?" asked Hotaru.

"We just have to meet with someone in the ministry of magic to have our powers tested so we can get our magic licenses or something," said Haruka.

"Does the letter say where you'll be attending?" asked Michiru. Hotaru checked the envelope and produced a welcoming letter and a list of supplies.

"It says I'm to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England.

"England!" exclaimed Michiru. "Why England?"

Haruka was still perusing her letter and noticed something. "Apparently they've yet to create a proper place for learning magic in Japan, as they've only just been notified this month of the changes taken place for magic users in this country."

"But why all of a sudden?" asked Michiru.

"I dunno, something to with someone who can't be mentioned, or something. Just as an added precaution to keep everyone safe. Also, to keep a better connection to those who would be of most value if the worst should happen."

"What does that mean?" demanded Haruka. Just then another owl flew though the open window and dropped a newspaper before flying back out. "What's this?" It had a short note attached to it.

This Paper is to welcome you to the wizarding world and let you know of the happenings in it. If you would like to subscribe to the Daily Prophet just

"Blah, blah just open the paper already," said Hotaru.

The paper had odd sorts of stories about a dark lord returning (although just mentioned as speculation as of yet) and added security measures in the possibility he does return. It also mentioned a Harry Potter, and Hogwarts.

"They expect me to attend a school that's made it in the paper in the same article as a dark lord?" said Hotaru. "They've got to be joking."

"Well, it says here that Hogwarts is still the safest place to be as its headmaster is the powerful wizard Albus Dumbledore, the only one known to frighten this dark lord," said Michiru.

After looking at the paper for awhile they began to notice that the people in the pictures were actually moving. "Very strange," said Hotaru.

Later that day they all agreed that Hotaru would be attending Hogwarts, since not complying would result in severe punishment, mainly that if she didn't go the sailor scouts would lose one of their strongest fighters, if she couldn't use her powers.

Just to be sure that Hotaru stayed safe, the scouts arranged for Luna, one of their guardians, who just happened to be a talking cat. She would help keep Hotaru supervised, and report back to the other sailors on her progress as well as any new findings about this 'Dark Lord' fellow.

Rather than meeting at the designated place for something called a portkey, they decided to see Hotaru off right and use the 'sailor teleport', so she'd be sure to reach her destination safely.


	2. Off to Hogwarts we go

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

Off to Hogwarts We Go

The day the trio would be going to Diagon Alley had finally arrived. Sakura packed only a few belongings, as she was to buy new school supplies anyway. She also had to bring Kero; not only for her protection, but also to send reports back to Touya, to make sure that 'the kid' behaved himself.

Since it was a Sunday morning the elementary was deserted, which was lucky, as no one wanted to explain the entire luggage situation. The portkey wasn't hard to find at all, as it was sitting next to a middle-aged man wearing a bright purple cloak. Oh, yeah, he wasn't out of place at all. The man was undoubtedly British, shown by his accent, so it was a good thing that Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoran all had on their charms-Tomoyo's was shaped like a camera. The trio and Kero said their good-byes, held onto the portkey and in a flash, were gone.

The group arrived with a horrible thump in a field just outside of London.

"I'm sorry about the rough landing, I guess I should have warned you," the man in the purple cloak said, then introduced himself as Barnaby. He's a representative of the Ministry of Magic, and was in charge of helping the Japanese minister keep his magic users under wraps.

Looking around, Sakura could see London not far in the distance, but far enough to avoid prying muggle eyes. She also noticed several other groups of teenagers arriving just as hers had, painfully. However, Sakura's landing hadn't been nearly as painful as the others had, she judged by hearing there sounds of agony. That's when it hit her. She leapt up to as quickly as she could to see whom she had landed on. "I'm so sorry Syaoran-kun," Sakura said as she helped him off the ground.

"That's all right, Sakura-chan, it wasn't your fault," he said while rubbing his bruised backside. Sakura turned her attention to her other friend.

"Tomoyo-chan, are you okay?" Tomoyo just brushed herself off.

"Yes, I'm all right," she replied. "I'm just not looking forward to doing that any time soon."

Once everyone was on their feet Barnaby gathered everyone together to announce that the transportation to Diagon Alley would be arriving shortly. Nearby, there was a small group of kids discussing which schools they were all to be attending. The trio then decided to spend the time waiting for the cars to arrive by seeing if they could find anyone else enrolled at Hogwarts.

In their search, the trio only found one other person that would be attending Hogwarts. She was a shy, polite girl their age, with violet eyes and short black hair, with a sort of purplish tint, that framed her elegant, but extremely pale face. The girl was quite familiar looking and not just because she sort of resembled Tomoyo, but Sakura could have sworn she'd seen the girl before. Tomoyo seemed to read Sakura's thoughts.

"Have we ever met, before now, I mean," inquired Tomoyo.

"I don't believe we've ever met, but there's no doubt you've all seen me on the news before," the girl answered.

"You can't be Sailor Moon?" asked Sakura, then eyed her suspiciously. "Can you?"

"No, but close. My name is Hotaru Tomoe, also known as Sailor Saturn."

Just then, Kero popped up from Sakura's bag, where he was hiding. "You're a Sailor Soldier? Oh, I just loved the game 'Sailor V'." Hotaru just laughed.

"Is he your guardian?" she asked.

"Yes," said Sakura, then quickly added, "but his true form is much bigger."

"Oh, I wasn't laughing at him, I was just reminded of Usagi Tsukino, or Sailor Moon as you know her. She loved that game as well. She and all the other sailors were upset that I had to leave, but as the youngest I had no choice. They made me bring Usagi's guardian, Luna, but I'm not complaining, she's great company. I was glad she was coming, since I was afraid I wouldn't know anyone or be able to make any friends." Hotaru then bent down to pick up Luna, who had been sitting quietly by her feet, to show them.

"Aww, she has a cute crescent moon on her forehead," said Sakura.

"Why thank you," Luna replied. No one even blinked at this event, seeing as how Kero was practically a talking plush toy, the trio didn't have any reason to be surprised by a talking cat.

"I heard there are four different houses at Hogwarts," said Hotaru. "Which one do you think you'll get?"

"I don't know," Sakura replied, "but I hope we all get the same one, that would be so great. Even if we don't, I hope we can all still remain close friends."

"I hope so too," said Hotaru. "It's always been hard for me to make new friends."

"Well now you're in luck, Hotaru-chan," said Tomoyo. "Sakura-chan is great at making friends, so if you stick with us you'll have more than you can handle."

"Oh, Tomoyo-chan, I don't make friends that easily," Sakura said, waving her hand, as if trying to move the thought aside. "But even if we do get different houses, I'll make sure you have plenty of friends, Hotaru-chan."

"Thank you," was all Hotaru could say to this.

"Oh, my, gosh!" exclaimed Sakura. "We've completely forgotten our manners, here you've introduced yourself and we've yet to introduce ourselves." The others looked slightly embarrassed at this realization. "I'm Sakura Kinomoto, and these are my friends Tomoyo Daidouji and Syaoran Li." Tomoyo smiled and Syaoran gave a slight bow.

"Well, I'm very pleased to meet you all." Just then the cars arrived to take the new students to acquire all their necessities for the school year.

"Hey, let's hurry so we can all be in the same car," Sakura said as she grabbed Hotaru's hand and ushered the rest through the crowds towards the cars.

"Energetic as usual I see," said Tomoyo as her friend herded them through the swarming masses. The car ride was quite silent, as no one had seen London before; their faces were crowded around the windows taking in the sights.

The cars arrived one by one, to avoid too much attention, at a sad looking pub seemingly unnoticed by the passing muggles, called the Leaky Cauldron. The group filed out of the car into the dingy pub and awaited further instructions.

Barnaby had gone ahead of the students so as to ensure that he could instruct everyone in small groups instead of leading them into Diagon Alley in one giant blob of people. He showed Sakura's group to the brick wall and opened the passage to the alley. Barnaby also instructed the group to first go to Gringotts bank to exchange their money, then after they had obtained all their items, were to return to the Leaky Cauldron to be assigned a room until it was time to leave for their schools.

Gringotts bank was interesting, to say the least. Never before had any of them seen a goblin. "Ho-e!" was the only response to these creatures. With money in hand the group was ready to shop.

They started with buying their wands at Ollivanders. Ollivander sized them up and started pulling out one wand after another for them to try until they finally found the wand that suited them. Syaoran ended up with an ash and dragon heartstring; Sakura with a unicorn hair and mahogany; Tomoyo with a unicorn hair and willow; and Hotaru with dragon heartstring and maple. Tomoyo still couldn't believe she had any magical powers, let alone be able to wield a wand.

The next stop on their supplies list was their uniforms. For these they had to be fitted at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. After all their robes had been fitted they finished off the rest of their list.

Once all the supplies had been purchased, there was still a bit of spending money burning holes in their pockets, so they decided to buy some ice cream and relax before they got their rooms.

While they devoured the ice cream, the group couldn't help but look around in amazement. There were so many interesting things in this place, especially the people. They walked around in the strangest outfits, cloaks, and whatnots and talked about brooms and something called quidditch. It was all quite fascinating, but it was time to be assigned a room.

As the group settled in over the next couple days, they got to know one another extremely well and traded stories about their heroic adventures, over ice cream, of course.

The day finally came when the group was to go to Hogwarts. Since theirs was the only group going to King's Cross station, they didn't have to worry about fighting over cars. Upon arrival at the station, the group was informed to go to platform nine and three-quarters to catch the Hogwarts express, and if they had any trouble they should seek someone carrying an owl.

When the group arrived at the spot where the platform should be they were slightly confused, but realized it was no doubt a platform created by magic so it wouldn't be as easy as just walking to where it was supposed to be. They tried to think of how they'd be able to hide something like a train platform when Syaoran leaned against a nearby wall to think and just vanished.

"Bingo!" yelled Sakura happily, as Syaoran walked back though the barrier to retrieve his belongings.

"Very smooth, Li-kun," Tomoyo grinned.

"I knew it was there the whole time," he tried to say slyly while blushing like mad the entire time. Hotaru just giggled at the silliness of her new friends. Luckily they arrived mildly early so very few people, if any, had seen Syaoran's little fall.

The group found a compartment easily enough and stashed their trunks overhead. Now they just had to wait for the other kids to show up. The kids started to arrive slowly at first, but as the clock ticked closer to 11 o'clock the platform was soon full of students and parents waiting for the departure of the train.

Staring into the crowd, the group couldn't distinguish one person from the next. One group, however, stuck out like a sore thumb, as they all had noticeably red hair. As they had nothing better to do, the four watched the group of redheads as they made their way through the crowd and noticed that one of the redheads was making his way to his friends.

"Hey, doesn't the one with the glasses look familiar?" asked Syaoran, referring to one of the redhead's friends. Sakura and Tomoyo couldn't help but laugh. Hotaru just stared. Sakura finally calmed down enough to explain the humor in this.

"He looks incredibly like this guy Eriol Hiiragizawa," said Sakura. "We always made jokes about him looking like Harry Potter. We only know a little about this Potter guy, but Eriol-kun always took offense, so we couldn't resist."

"I see," said Hotaru, she and Luna exchanged glances, suggesting 'lunatics'. Luna and Kero were conveniently hiding up by the luggage so as to avoid being trampled by the many students shuffling through the compartments.

"You know, I never actually believed that Harry Potter existed," said Tomoyo. "I thought he was some made-up person whom Eriol-kun could compare himself to and pretend to be more important than."

"Come to think of it, it was Hiiragizawa-kun that told of us about Harry Potter," said Syaoran.

"Yeah, maybe we should have asked him if he knew anything about this school. Then we'd at least know what to expect from it."

It was just about 11 o'clock and the train was getting ready to leave when the compartment door opened to reveal the redhead they were watching earlier, along with his friends. "Aww, this compartment is taken too. I don't think there are any empty ones left," said the redhead.

"Yes, but it's the least full and we have to sit somewhere," replied a girl with extremely bushy brown hair. She then turned her attention to Sakura's group. "Do you mind if we share this compartment."

"Of course not, come in, the more the merrier," said Sakura cheerfully.

The Eriol look alike spoke, "What year are you guys in? You look our age, but aren't the least bit familiar."

"Well I'd imagine that we're not familiar as we'd never met nor attended this school before," said Syaoran. "But you are right about us being our age if you are in fact 15."

"Well, if you've never been here before, how are just starting at 15?" asked the bushy hair girl. "Everyone starts at age 11 for their first year."

"We didn't know that we had to start at a certain age," said Sakura. "We just got letters stating that Japan was to regulate magic using, and were told to attend this school." Just then the whistle blew, signifying the upcoming departure of the train. "Oh, we've been terribly rude. Please let us help you put your things away, then we can all sit down and get to know each other."

Sakura, Tomoyo, and Hotaru helped with putting the luggage away while Syaoran sat and glared. Something he was all too good at. Sakura knew it was useless to try and get him to help. 'Stubborn as always,' thought Sakura.

Once they were all settled in, Sakura began the introductions, "I'm Sakura Kinomoto, and these are my friends, Syaoran Li…" she gestured towards Syaoran whom she knew wouldn't willingly give his name; then signaled for the others to continue.

"Tomoyo Daidouji."

"Hotaru Tomoe."

The redhead was the first to speak up, "Ron Weasley, and this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter," he gestured towards each respectively.

"So why is Japan only just now regulating magic?" Hermione inquired.

"I suppose it's because the Ministry of Magic didn't have jurisdiction over Japan until just recently," said Hotaru. "But it is rather odd that this would be happening just now-I mean, there's been an awful lot of magic using long before now. It doesn't make sense that they'd only be just starting to regulate. Nothings changed from the past, or at least, I don't think it has."

Ron, Hermione, and Harry briefly exchanged glances. They knew why this sudden change occurred, but were reluctant to talk about it. Tomoyo, however, was quick to pick up on things and noticed the furtive glances. "What do you guys think could have happened," she asked, fully knowing there was something they weren't saying.

"Well, you see…" started Ron.

"It's like this…" Hermione tried to continue.

Harry then decided to take over the explanation. "Have you heard the stories of Voldemort and the boy who lived?" Ron and Hermione flinched at the mention of Voldemort.

"No," all four replied.

"Well, he was an evil wizard who sought power, and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Even if it meant the destruction of anything and anyone that might stand in his way," Harry continued. "Anyway, about 15 years ago his reign of terror was brought to an halt when he tried to destroy one last family. He was able to put an end to the man and woman. Because of a powerful charm his attack on the child was sent against him, and Voldemort was thrown out of his body. The small part that survived was biding its time until it could come back to power and seek revenge on the child. Just this summer he'd done everything but claim his revenge."

The four just stared, mouths agape, while Ron and Hermione fidgeted nervously.

Tomoyo was first to snap out of the shock. "You were the child weren't you?" she asked of Harry.

"Yes," he replied.

"Then is that how you got that scar?" she asked, but then added, "I don't mean to offend you or anything, but it's nothing that could have come about by anything but magic."

Harry looked at her curiously for a second, "My, you're perceptive. Are you sure you've never heard of me?"

"Well, I've heard mention of your name and that you're a great wizard, but that was all," Tomoyo replied. They both stared at each other for a while. Everyone, including Sakura, who was rarely perceptive about peoples' emotions, couldn't help but see the connection happening between the two. Syaoran couldn't take any more, and could tell the others were getting just as antsy waiting for someone to change the mood.

"Ahem," was all Syaoran could think of, but it was nonetheless effective, as Tomoyo and Harry broke eye contact. They blushed furiously as they noticed everyone was watching them.

As the express chugged along, both groups were getting well-acquainted and becoming fast friends, even Syaoran warmed up a bit. Then the woman pushing the cart of goodies came strolling by to offer something to eat. Sakura's group had all remembered their packed lunches with enough to share so no one had to spend any money. The woman then continued her journey only to reveal three sinister looking teenage boys, who were most definitely up to no good.

"Why hello, Potter," said the shortest of the three. "I see you're trying to expand your little group of outcasts."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked angrily.

"Nothing," said the boy innocently, or at least tried to be. "I just wanted to see if the famous Harry Potter had any run-ins with a certain someone over the summer. I mean, it would have been a terrible tragedy if you were to survive after another encounter with you-know-who."

"Jeez, stop beating around the bush and tell us what you really think," said Hotaru, trying to pour on the sarcasm. The blonde hair boy was about to say something obscenely mean to someone who would dare talk back to him, but stopped dead in his tracks. He saw before him a vision of beauty. Her violet eyes, her black hair outlining her thin, pale face. The boy could only mouth wordlessly for a few seconds before he could find his voice.

Trying to recover from that embarrassing display he tried to be as smug as possible. "I'm Draco Malfoy, and who might you-I mean-how dare you speak to me like that. I demand to know who you are." Well, he didn't completely fail.

"I'm Hotaru Tomoe, and I dare to speak to you in any way I please." All Draco could do was to make a few indignant sounds before just turning and walking away. Everyone then turned to Hotaru.

"I have never seen Malfoy act like that around anyone," said Hermione.

"Way to go Hotaru-chan," said Sakura. "You sure showed that meany."

"What the…meany? Sakura-chan…" said Syaoran. "Are you seriously that oblivious, and what are we? Four?"

Sakura gave a little "humph" and tried to ignore him, but couldn't contain it, "What do you mean oblivious?" Tomoyo just laughed, and Syaoran just rolled his eyes.

"Couldn't you tell that Malfoy was completely in to her?" asked Ron. "Hey, you know we could use this to our advantage. Maybe he won't be able to bother us that much this year, so long as she's around."

"That's true, but she'd have to be in our house to keep him in line," said Hermione.

"Oh, yeah, weren't you talking about the houses earlier, Hotaru-chan?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, but I knew that there's four of them, nothing more," said Hotaru.

"The four different houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," Hermione stated matter-of-factly. "The ones in Gryffindor are said to have courage. Hufflepuffs are loyal. Ravenclaw is for those who have a ready mind. And Slytherin houses those three," referring to Draco Malfoy and his lackeys, later identified as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"So which houses are you all in?" asked Hotaru.

"We're all in Gryffindor," Ron said proudly. "What houses do you think you'll all get?"

"I don't know," said Tomoyo, thinking hard. "How do we get placed into the houses anyway?"

"You get sorted by the sorting hat," said Harry.

"Sorting hat?" the four asked in unison.

"You'll find out once we get to Hogwarts," Ron smiled wryly. The four could do nothing but sit and look bemused.

After several long hours the train finally found its way to Hogsmeade Station where the adventure of school would begin. The train came to a halt and Sakura's group started to gather their belongings. Hermione stopped them before they collected all their things, "You don't have to do that, your things will be taken to your rooms for you."

"Oh," said Sakura. She and the others dropped their stuff and followed after Harry and Ron, who had already left the compartment.

Upon leaving the train the first years were herded over to an extraordinarily large man as the exchange students were called over by an elderly woman with square rimmed glasses, who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. The group was to be briefed about the situation and then be sorted to their houses. The briefing took place in McGonagall's office, where they discussed everything that had already been in the letters. They also discussed the different courses they would be taking during the school year. In addition to the regular curriculum the four exchange students would have regular check ups to test their skills in both the traditional magic and their own brand, so as to gage their magical aptitude.


	3. I've Been Sorted Where?

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

I've been Sorted Where?

The first years arrived last to the Great Hall, as they had to take the traditional trip to the castle in boats. Once everyone was inside the Great Hall, the headmaster, Dumbledore then decided it was time to introduce to the school the special guests they would be hosting for the next couple of years.

"As some of you may have noticed," began Dumbledore, "we have four new students in addition to our first years. These students have shown a great strength in magic, but because of certain circumstances we were unable to enroll them until this year.

"We are not the only school to be hosting students such as these, as there were far too many to be placed, we were only able to pick out the most exceptional. Please make them feel welcome, as this is all very new to them." He then made a waving gesture at Professor McGonagall. "Now we will start the sorting beginning with our transfer students." McGonagall then placed an extremely old and battered hat on a stool that stood at the front of the Great Hall. The hat then sang a strange sorting song.

McGonagall stood off to the side and took out a scroll of parchment with names printed on it. "Tomoyo Daidouji," she called out after the hat finished its song. All Tomoyo could thing about was how she even got into this school, recalling Dumbledore referring to them as having exceptional strength in magic.

'But I don't have any,' she thought as she made her way to the hat. McGonagall placed the hat on Tomoyo's head. A few moments later Tomoyo gave a frightened jump as the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!"

McGonagall removed the hat and told Tomoyo to join her table. Tomoyo was somewhat surprised as everyone at the Gryffindor table clapped like mad.

"Sakura Kinomoto." Sakura then had the hat placed on her head, and not even a second later that the hat had touched her head that it shouted, "Gryffindor!" She was greeted just as excitedly as Tomoyo had been.

Syaoran and Hotaru were up next, and to everyone's surprise, especially Sakura's, they were both sent to Slytherin.

Syaoran and Hotaru grumbled as they made their way to the Slytherin table. "I've been sorted where?" said an extremely upset Hotaru. "Jeez, you're possessed once and get labeled for life." Syaoran just scowled knowing why he'd been sent to this particular table. He had hoped that it was behind him, but his need to get what he wanted by any means was what sent him there. The two were greeted with exceptionally loud cheers from all, except Draco, who just sat, stunned by this twist of fate.

'How was she placed here?' he wondered. 'Nobody this good looking has ever been placed here.'

The cheers from the Slytherin table died down and the first years were then sorted. Dumbledore gave a speech after all had been sorted, saying that the forbidden forest was still off limits, yadda, yadda, and for everyone to enjoy this year, despite what's going on outside the school walls. The feast began shortly after and all sorts of food started to appear out of nowhere.

"This is amazing," said Hotaru. She turned to Syaoran to see his reaction to the food, but he was too busy trying to get Sakura's attention to apologize for not being able to be in the same house. Hotaru could tell this was going to be hard for both Sakura and Syaoran, as they probably hadn't been away from each other for long periods of time since they'd been going out. Sure, they'd see each other, but it would only be between classes and on the off chance that their houses would be paired together.

Sakura was quite in shock to learn that her boyfriend was to spend the rest of the school years with the ones everyone considered 'evil'. Tomoyo tried to calm her down, but couldn't snap Sakura out of her funk. Harry took notice of her distress and tried to help. "It's all right, I mean there has to be some people that go through Slytherin and turn out okay," Harry said trying to sound hopeful.

Sakura cheered up a little, "Really?"

"I'm sure of it, and just in case, I know for a fact that we have several classes with the Slytherins so you can be sure to keep him in line. That is, if he ever starts to stray."

Sakura gave a large smile, "Thank you."

Harry blushed slightly, 'Man, all the transfer girls are gorgeous,' he thought. 'Maybe I should move to Japan.' Tomoyo then turned to Harry.

"Thank you for cheering her up," said Tomoyo. "I just hate to see her unhappy."

"Oh, it was my pleasure," replied Harry.

The feast was ending and the Prefects were ready to take their houses back to their common rooms when Dumbledore got up to make one last announcement. "One last thing before you go to your common rooms. Since there was such a great turn out for the Yule Ball last year, it has been decided to make the ball an annual thing. This dance is only for those in their third year and up. Goodnight." After this announcement the whole hall was talking about what they'd wear and whom they were going to go with.

"Honestly," said Hermione. "It's not going be for another three months."

"That may be, but some people don't want to take chances and wait 'til the last minute, like last year," said Ron. "Speaking of which, just to be sure, will you go to the ball with me, Hermione?"

"Well, of course," she said and gave him a hug. Ron nearly melted.

"You two are great together," said Sakura as they started on their way to the Gryffindor common room. The group walked through a lot of corridors and up terribly odd stairs. All the while, Sakura clung onto Tomoyo for dear life as all the people in the portraits watched their progress.

"Tomoyo-chan, are they gh-ghosts?" Sakura stuttered. Harry looked over and shook his head.

'She's supposed to be courageous?' he asked himself.

Tomoyo turned to Harry and said, "She's courageous when she needs to be." Harry just gave a startled look suggesting a 'did she just read my mind' sort of thing.

"Uh, anyway," said Harry. "They're not ghosts, just enchanted portraits. It's very common in the magic world. I've only just gotten used to the idea myself. Although there are real ghosts at this school."

"Ho-e!" cried Sakura, and hid herself behind Tomoyo.

"Oh, but they're not scary-I mean, the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, is pretty nice," he said, trying to, but unsuccessfully, calm Sakura down. "There's really nothing to be afraid of."

"I don't care if they're nice or not, I just don't want them coming near me," she sobbed.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, you're soaking my sleeve," said Tomoyo.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tomoyo-chan," Sakura wiped her eyes, then tried to dry her friend.

"If you get to know him you'll know he's nothing to be afraid of," said Harry. Sakura just sniffled and tried to stay calm, she couldn't help it, but ghosts just gave her the creeps, no matter how she thought of them.

The Gryffindors finally found their way to the entrance to the common room, which was a hole hidden behind a portrait of a very plump woman. "That's the fat lady," whispered Harry. "You have to tell her the password to get into the common room." Sakura and Tomoyo just nodded, letting him know they understood. Sakura was still slightly frightened by the idea of moving portraits. The Prefect said the password, "Cockroach clusters," and the portrait swung open, revealing a cozy looking room with a blazing fire and a lot of cushy looking chairs.

The Prefect then turned to face all the students once everyone had entered the common room. "The boys dormitories are on the left and the girls' are on the right," he gestured towards both respectively. The prefect then left the students to get settled.

"Come on I'll show you to our room," said Hermione. "Since we're in the same year, I guess that's where you're supposed to go." She led them up the spiral staircase and into a room with several four-post beds. "I guess the extra two on the other side of the room are yours."

The two beds were, of course, Sakura's and Tomoyo's, as their belongings were in the trunks at the foot of the beds. Kero then flew over to them. "It's about time you guys got here, I was getting bored. Especially since I can't play any video games here." Hermione just stared.

Sakura and Tomoyo noticed the look on Hermione's face and realized they'd forgotten to tell her about Kero on the train.

"Oh, uh, this is Kero-chan," said Sakura. "He's my guardian."

"Your guardian?" Hermione looked puzzled. "He's a little small." At this comment Kero then started to glow and was encased by giant wings. When he opened his wings the glow disappeared and in the place where the pint-sized plushie had been was Kero's true form, a rather large winged lion.

"Oh," said Hermione. "So that was just his travel size?"

"I guess you could call it that," said Kero, in his now deeper voice. He then de-transformed. "This is actually my false form. It's so I can remain undetected, for the most part, to not draw as much attention while I aid Sakura."

"Yeah, I don't have a guardian, but I do have a cat, Crookshanks," she pointed to the lump of fur on her bed. "So far he's protected me, I guess."

Later as they were getting into bed Sakura couldn't help but wonder how Syaoran and Hotaru were doing in the Slytherin house.

Syaoran and Hotaru reluctantly followed the Slytherins after the feast, towards the dungeons of Hogwarts until they finally reached what seemed like a dead-end. 'What, are we lost?' thought Syaoran. Just then the Prefect said the password, "Blood boil," and the wall slid open revealing a somewhat eerie looking common room.

"Isn't this place great," said Draco, uncharacteristically cheerful, to his lackeys.

"Ick, yeah, if you're Stephen King," Hotaru said looking around. Syaoran nodded in agreement. Draco turned to look at her.

"Stephen-who?" he asked, almost rudely.

"What? Oh, he's a famous writer," she said. "He's known for writing horror novels and stuff like that."

"Well, I've never heard of him," he said smugly. "So he's obviously not that famous."

"He is a muggle, and as you're known for disliking them, it's no wonder you haven't heard of him."

"A muggle?" he asked. "How dare you mention one inside Slytherin's house."

"You know 'muggles' as you call them aren't that bad-I mean-I've lived around them my entire life, and I find nothing wrong with liking those who don't possess magical powers." 'Even if they don't like me,' she added to herself.

Draco looked as though he was going to say something really harsh, but then, scowling, Syaoran stepped in front of him and Draco though better.

"If you know what's good for you you'd leave talk of muggles outside this house. Those in here aren't very forgiving of things like that." Draco then headed towards his room flocked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"As these people don't look like a very friendly bunch, I'd actually take his advice and refrain from mentioning muggles, or anything else they'd take offense from, for now on," Syaoran told her more than suggested. "Just to be safe, I think that tonight I'm going to be sleeping with a magic shield around my bed. I don't trust those three in the least."

Syaoran and Hotaru sat in silence in the common room, patiently waiting for everyone else to go up to their rooms. The two thought it best to avoid any unwanted interactions. Once the common room had been completely cleared, other than Syaoran and Hotaru, of course, Luna strolled down the stairs carrying a book. "Hotaru," she said, dropping the book. "Have you contacted the others yet, to tell them you've arrived safely?"

"Oh, my, gosh, I completely forgot." She was about to reach for her communicator, but stopped as soon as she realized, "I can't use my communicator here."  
"That's why I've brought this book down. It tells you how to communicate using fire. The items needed are attached inside." Hotaru picked up the book and thumbed through it.

"So I'm just supposed to throw the powder into the fire, this seems easy enough." She looked over at Syaoran who was starting to doze. Hotaru nudged him gently. "Maybe you should go to bed now." He nodded sleepily and made his way to his room.

Hotaru went to the fire and threw in the powder, she then uttered the name of the person she wished to speak with, "Rei Hino." Hotaru figured Rei would be the only person near a fire at this time of night.

Rei was more or less surprised to see Hotaru's floating head in her flames. At first she thought it was some sort of premonition, but quickly realized it was not, since none of her premonitions were able to actually make contact with her. Rei had had a crash course in magic using so as to perform her duties as a sailor scout, so she vaguely understood the workings of this sort of communication.

"Hi, Rei," said Hotaru. "I wasn't able to use the communicator so I figured-well, Luna figured-this would be the best way to contact you."

"Oh," said Rei. "Well how are you doing so far, everything going all right?"

"Yes, everything's fine, I've even made some new friends."

"That's great, I'm sure everyone will want to hear about your time there, so we'll be sending you an owl, so we can contact each other easier. I'm sure everyone else will want to be more discrete about sailor business. Oh, by the way, who's that behind you?"

"What?" Hotaru turned around to see Draco. She quickly turned back to the fire, "Bye, Rei," she said and Rei's head vanished.

"Who were you talking to," Draco inquired. "And what's so important that you couldn't even speak English. But I was able to pick out a 'sailor' something."

"I was speaking to a friend, and it's not like she could even understand English anyway," replied Hotaru. "As for the rest of the conversation, that's for me to know and you to never find out." She then turned to leave, but Draco grabbed her by the wrist.

"What is it with you? Do you not understand who I am."

"I understand that you're an extremely evil person and I'll have nothing to do with you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to bed-and why haven't you?"

Draco let her wrist go, "Well, that's for me to know and you to never find out," he said smugly as he turned to leave. He then disappeared up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

"Oh, well, pfft," was all Hotaru could say to that before she went to her own room.


	4. Enter the Replacement Teacher

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

Enter the Replacement Teacher

After breakfast, Sakura, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Hotaru compared schedules. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins would be sharing Care for Magical Creatures and Potions, but that wouldn't be until the next day.

"Aww, man," said Sakura. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow to have class together. So we'll have to make sure we at least see each other during lunch, I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess," Syaoran said slightly depressed. "What classes do you have today? We," he started, referring to the Slytherins, "have Arithmancy with Professor Vector, Divination with a Professor Trelawney, and Charms with a Professor Flitwick."

"Um," Sakura looked at her schedule. "We have History of Magic with Professor Binns, Herbology with Professor Sprout and the Hufflepuff house, and let's see…Oh, um, Defense Against the Dark Arts, but the teacher isn't listed yet."

"What?" he said, grabbing her schedule. "Hmm, it's 'to-be-announced'. I wonder why they don't already have one." Harry and Ron walked up at this statement.

"That's because we get a new teacher every year, or at least since we've been coming here," said Harry.

""Yeah, each one always seems to leave for some reason or another. I guess they couldn't find someone before school started," added Ron. "I hope they bring Professor Lupin back."

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "He was by far the best Defense teacher we've had yet."

"So wait…" said Tomoyo. "You've had four different Defense teachers? How come none of them stay?"

"Well, it's a long story," said Harry. "I'll tell you about it when there's more time-we should hurry, class will be starting soon."

"Oh, yeah, we should probably get going," Sakura said to Syaoran and Hotaru. She gave Syaoran a big hug, "See you later," and walked off with the rest of the Gryffindors to their classes.

The first class turned out to be a big snore. The second class also proved to be very uneventful, so Sakura and Tomoyo spent most of the class throwing a paper airplane to one another while the teacher wasn't looking. Professor Sprout was talking about some plant that did something; Sakura didn't really pay attention. Ron and Harry later joined in the tossing of the plane. Hermione just took notes and gave them all 'don't-expect-me-to-help-if-this-shows-up-on-a-test' look.

Syaoran and Hotaru's Arithmancy class was ho-hum and their Divination class was only slightly more eventful. The Slytherins were learning how to use Taro cards. Syaoran and Hotaru had learned on the train that Professor Trelawney liked to hear about any misfortunes, such as death or dismemberment. So as Trelawney hovered about, making sure everyone was reading the cards correctly, the two had rigged their cards to display anything bad to get Trelawney's approval, or at the least, give themselves a laugh.

"Oh, dear," said Trelawney as she looked over Syaoran and Hotaru's progress. "It looks like Mr. Li has pulled out the 'sword' card. This of course means there is to be a murder in his future." She glanced at Hotaru's. "And Miss Tomoe seems to have pulled out the 'death' card. This is most unfortunate." She then looked from Syaoran to Hotaru. "Mr. Li, you don't plan on murdering Miss Tomoe, do you?" she asked as Syaoran pulled out another card, which happened to be the 'death card.' "Never mind, it seems you both will be meeting an unfortunate fate," Trelawney almost seemed to say this last statement with a hint of pleasure in her voice. Syaoran and Hotaru started to seriously doubt how credible this teacher actually was. When Professor Trelawney left to inspect the other students the two found it hard to suppress their sniggers.

Draco was seated nearby, "I see you two don't seem frightened of death. Or perhaps, you've just come to grips with reality and accepted your short pathetic existences."

If looks could kill Syaoran would have succeeded, but his scowl was interrupted as something flying though the window caught his eye. Hotaru noticed it too. "Or perhaps we just caught a glimpse of your fate." She looked at Draco's cards with mock surprise. "What's this, you're going to meet an unfortunate end, involving something made of paper?"

"What? How can you tell that," Draco turned to check his cards only to find a paper airplane heading straight for him. "Ow, bloody hell!" he yelled as the plane had found it's way into Draco's eye.

Everyone turned to see what had happened. "Well. I tried to warn him," said Hotaru innocently. Draco just covered his injured eye and tried his best to glare with the other. "Oh, don't be such a baby," Hotaru walked over to him and tried to pry his hand away from his face.

"No, you're just trying to make it worse," Draco said trying to pull away.

"Just let me look at it, oh, move your hand."

"Fine." Draco reluctantly moved his hand. Hotaru could see his eye getting red, and noticed the plane had scratched his cornea. She took this moment to show off her excellent healing skills. She hovered her hand over Draco's eye. Her hand then started to glow a light purple. Once she removed her hand and the glow ceased, Draco's eye was as good as new. "Well, what the hell was that?"

"If you're not even going to say thank you, I might as well put the scratch back," Hotaru said as she grabbed for the plane.

"No!" Draco yelled, causing Hotaru to drop the plane. He then said, somewhat calmly, "No, I'm sorry. Thank you."

"Well, I'm not so sure you didn't deserve it," said Hotaru as she crossed her arms. "But you're welcome just the same." She then returned to her table to her to finish the 'predictions'.

During lunch Sakura, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Hotaru shared their most interesting class experiences. "Yeah, Herbology was pretty fun, that is until a gust of wind took our paper plane. Then we actually had to start paying attention to what Professor Sprout was saying," said Sakura.

"That was your paper plane?" asked Syaoran.

"I guess, why do you ask?" Syaoran and Hotaru just looked at each other and burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

The laughter finally died down enough for the two to explain. "The paper plane helped us to make Malfoy-san look like a complete idiot," said Syaoran.

"Yeah it was great," said Hotaru. "It flew right into his eye."

"That's funny," said Tomoyo turning to Sakura. "Didn't Ron-kun and Harry-kun have some sort of joke going about how they could try and rig the plane so it could dive bomb Malfoy-san?"

"That's right, Tomoyo-chan, I guess the plane liked the idea so much it decided to carry out the plan." Everyone then started to laugh hysterically, but the laughter was cut short as they noticed Draco and his hench-men walking by, eyeing the four suspiciously. "His eye looks all right now."

"That's because I healed it for him," replied Hotaru.

"What?" asked Sakura. "How's that?"

"Well, I was born with the gift to heal. I suppose it's to counteract the somewhat destructive nature of my alter-ego," said Hotaru.

"Wow, Hotaru-chan, that's great," said Tomoyo. "Have you ever thought of helping people for a living?"

"Actually, I've always wanted to become a nurse."

Lunch was ending so the group had to go their separate ways. "Well we're finally going to get to see who our new Defense teacher is going to be," said Harry as he joined Sakura and Tomoyo on the way to class.

"Do we have assigned seating or do we just sit anywhere?" said Sakura.

"Usually you just come in and sit where ever you want. When the teacher comes in is when you find out if there's assigned seating or not," Hermione said appearing behind them.

"Okay," said Sakura. "Let's sit over there," she gestured towards the other side of the room, next to the windows. Sakura took a seat next to a window and Tomoyo sat on her other side. Harry took a seat directly behind Tomoyo, Ron and Hermione sat on either side of him.

One by one the other Gryffindors trickled in and each one speculating on what the new teacher would be like.

"I've heard that this year we're going to have a female teacher for once," said a girl.

"Well I don't care either way, as long as it's not Snape," said the girl's friend. Everyone else just nodded in agreement. As soon as everyone had taken seats, the door opened to reveal their new replacement teacher.

"An elf?" everyone murmured. The elf woman walked with grace and elegance into the room; she also seemed to be glowing. She was by far the most beautiful creature anyone had ever seen.

"My name is Gladriel, and I will be your new teacher for the year." Everyone just stared in awe of her beauty. However, no one could bring themselves to look her directly in the eye. Something in the back of their minds told them not to.

Once everyone had gotten over the initial shock of an elven teacher, they began to ask questions.

"I thought that elves weren't able to use wands," said a sandy-haired boy. "So how do we have an elven teacher?"

"Well, Mr. Finnigan, only house elves were forbidden to use wands. Unfortunately, they were seen as a lower class of elves, and then there was the fact that their magic is somewhat unpredictable. High Elves, which is what I am, have no laws against them about wand wielding," replied Gladriel.

"How come we've never been told of High Elves before. I mean, I've gone through practically every book and there's no mention whatsoever," said Hermione.

"That's because, Miss Granger, the elf council decided it was best to stay out of human affairs, so we made sure that they would stay out of ours as well. We thought that the only way for this to happen was to make sure there were no records of our existence."

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Hermione. "If what you say is true, then how were you informed about this position?"

"I only said there was no record, I never said that our existence was a complete secret. Dumbledore is one of the few who know the truth about us. He contacted the council over the summer and we made arrangements to have one of our own teach at this school, as you were in need of someone who's had experience in defense against the dark arts. We elves have also experienced problems with dark forces.

In this class we will be going more into depth about how to identify these dark forces, creatures or the like, and especially the best ways to protect yourself against them.

I'm sure you've been able to go over these things with your previous teachers, but I have been informed about your past problems that may have possibly prevented you from learning all you should have at this point in your studies, so we will only be going over your previous syllabi briefly. Now more than ever you should be completely prepared for anything that may come your way." Everyone just sat and stared at this statement, all except for Hermione, who still had a burning question.

"I have one more question," said Hermione. "How is it that you know my name, when it's obvious that you've not yet even called roll?"

"Not everything is as clear as you'd like it to be, I think this question should be saved for a later day. Goodness, I've lost track of the hour; it seems we've talked the whole class away. I suggest you all read the first two chapters in your books for next class. You are all dismissed."

Hermione was a bit upset to not have her question answered, but didn't object too much as the class had been let out slightly early. "Well, I'm going to use this time to study in the library. I think you should all do the same." Harry and Ron just looked at her.

"It's only the first day of school, we don't have to study until it gets closer to the final exams," said Harry. Ron was about to agree, but noticed a strange look on Hermione's face.

"Maybe you're right," said Ron. "Shall I escort you to the library?" He offered his arm to Hermione in that sort of gentlemanly manor, which she gladly accepted.

Harry watched as the two went off towards the library. 'Well now what am I supposed to do?' he thought.

Sakura and Tomoyo were walking by so Harry thought this might be his chance to get to know Tomoyo better. "Hey, what are you guys up to?" he asked. Sakura thought this would be the perfect time to get Tomoyo and Harry to spend time together.

"Well, I'm on my way to find Syaoran, but I'm not sure what Tomoyo-chan is doing." Tomoyo just looked at her friend. "I guess I'll see you two at dinner, bye," and she took off down the hall.

"Wait, Sakura-chan," said Tomoyo, but Sakura had already disappeared around the corner. She then turned to Harry. "Well, um, what can you do around here for fun?"

"Oh, I guess we could go for a walk around the school. I could introduce you to my friend Hagrid."

"Who's Hagrid?"

"He's the gamekeeper, and the teacher for Care for Magical Creatures."

"Well if he's a friend of yours, I'm sure he's wonderful, I'd be pleased to meet him."

After dinner Sakura, Tomoyo, and Hotaru got together to talk about how their day had gone since lunch. Syaoran was excused, as he had to talk to Kero in private about how well he'd been behaving himself, for the report for Touya.

"So, Tomoyo-chan, I heard that you and Harry-kun were getting pretty chummy on your walk this afternoon," said Hotaru.

"My, word travels fast, doesn't it?" Tomoyo questioned towards Sakura.

"What, I didn't say anything," Sakura said defensively.

"Nobody told me anything, Tomoyo-chan," said Hotaru. "I saw you guys though the window during charms. You two would make a really cute couple." Tomoyo started to blush, and decided it was time to change the subject.

"So, Hotaru-chan, how was charms-I mean what do you do in that class?"

"Charms was great, sort of. Syaoran and I were way behind in the class, so we had a kind of crash course to catch up to the rest of the 5th years. Luckily we're quick studies in magic. Professor Flitwick said that there's never been anyone in the history of Hogwarts that's learned that many charms in one day, and actually performed them correctly."

"That's great, Hotaru-chan," said Sakura. "But there's something I've been wanting to ask you since lunch."

"What's that?"

"Well, I was wondering, since he's been so mean and all, why did you heal Malfoy-kun's eye?"

"Well…I…" Hotaru didn't know what to say. "I never really thought of why I did. I suppose it's because I've always been taught to treat people with kindness, no matter how mean they are to you."

"Good, 'cause I thought it might have been because you liked him or something," said Sakura. Hotaru just had a bewildered look on her face. How could she like anyone so evil, so rude, so handsome-hey, how'd that get there. Hotaru shook her head as trying to dislodge unpleasant thoughts.

"Are you okay, Hotaru-chan?" Tomoyo asked.

"I'm fine, I just came across a thought I just didn't like so much," she replied.

During the conversation, Hotaru couldn't help but feel that someone was watching her. "Do you guys ever get the feeling you were being watched?"

"Not really, why?" asked Tomoyo, as she started to look around. "Hey, Hotaru-chan, I think that politeness has found you an admirer."

"What?" Hotaru and Sakura looked to see what Tomoyo was talking about. Draco, having noticed all three girls turned to look at him, quickly changed his glance and pretended to be very interested in the food he'd been neglecting.

"Aww, I always attract the wrong kind," said Hotaru jokingly.

"Well, maybe you'll find someone better Hotaru-chan," said Sakura hopefully. "But then again, you could be a sort of positive influence on him."

"Yeah, Hotaru-chan, just look at Sakura-chan and Li-kun. I mean, Li-kun used to be very cruel, but Sakura-chan changed him for the better. Even he's said so," said Tomoyo. Sakura's ever-ready smile faded a little at this statement.

"But I guess it wasn't enough," Sakura said sadly.

"Yeah, but you've got to understand that what got Li-kun into the Slytherin house was his need to get what he wants by any means necessary," said Tomoyo. "The only thing that he wants by any means is your safety. You should be happy knowing he'd risk anything for you, any girl would be more than thrilled to have a guy like that."

"Thanks, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura's smile came back with full force, just as Syaoran was walking up.

"Hey guys what's hap-" Syaoran's sentence was cut short as Sakura glomped him, which caused him to turn beet red.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, you're overloading Li-kun's circuits." Tomoyo giggled.

"Oops, sorry Syaoran-kun," Sakura said while letting go of the stunned Syaoran. "I guess I got a little too enthusiastic about seeing you."

"Well, I wasn't complaining," said Syaoran. "I was just surprised. I mean, it's not very often that that happens." His color slowly returned to normal.

While her friends were giving Syaoran a hard time, Hotaru couldn't help but let her eyes wonder over to the spot Draco was sitting. If she didn't know better, she could never tell that he was evil just by looking at him. She let her let her mind drift as she took in his features. Draco wasn't all too bad looking.

His platinum blond hair actually suited his pale face, 'If only he'd stop slicking it back.' She also noticed that his eyes were a sort of gray; they looked sad, yet something warm could be seen in them. Hotaru then jumped back to reality and could tell that she had been staring at Draco, and he was now staring back. She quickly looked away. 'No way did that just happen,' she thought to herself. 'There's no way I could have actually thought that Malfoy-kun could have possibilities.'

Her attention finally returned to her friends. Syaoran, she noticed, had turned all shades of red, and Sakura and Tomoyo were now laughing hysterically. Syaoran was trying to regain his composure, but was failing horribly. "I do not turn completely red every time she touches me. It's only true when something's unexpected. Stop laughing, this isn't funny."

"I'm sorry, Li-kun," said Tomoyo while drying her eyes, from laughing so hard. "It couldn't be helped."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Syaoran-kun," said Sakura. "I promise it won't happen again." Hotaru could see that Syaoran wasn't convinced, and thought it wise to help change the subject.

"So, Tomoyo-chan, where's Harry-kun?" she asked.

"Oh, he said he had quidditch practice," replied Tomoyo.

"What's quidditch anyway?" asked Sakura.

"I don't really know," said Tomoyo. "But it's some sort of wizarding sport."

"Oh," everyone said in unison.


	5. Ooh, I'm Shaking in my Little Boots

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

Ooh, I'm Shaking in My Little Boots

The next day the group was excited to be attending the same classes, that is, after the Gryffindors and Slytherins attended Charms and Transfiguration, respectively.

During breakfast both Hotaru and Syaoran received owls that were to monitor their progress. As Syaoran's letter was not very positive, he decided to put off answering it until later. Hotaru, however, was quite excited to receive her letter from the sailor soldiers and quickly wrote a summary of her time at school so far. This would be a common occurrence at the end of every week for her. Syaoran's letters would be arriving practically everyday, as Touya didn't trust him in the slightest.

The first classes went by easily enough and the group caught on rather quick, even Tomoyo was rapidly catching up to the other 5th year students. After their classes had ended the group met up in front of the Great Hall so they could make their way to Professor Snape's Potion's class together.

Snape was standing at the door to give seating arrangements as the students entered. "Ah, it's the new transfer students, we finally meet," he said in a friendly tone that seemed completely forced. "As you're all new, I'll quickly review the rules of my class. There is to be no talking unless I approve; you will stay in your seating arrangements that I have chosen unless I say otherwise; and you will follow directions exactly as I give them. Is this understood?"

"Yes, Professor Snape," they all said in unison. Snape eyed them suspiciously.

"What, no snide comments, rude gestures, or rolling of the eyes?" he asked. Hotaru raised her hand, "Yes?"

"Students in Japan are taught to respect their teachers and elders, Professor," replied Hotaru.

"Is that so? Hmm…well, since you four don't seem to be trouble makers, go ahead and sit where you like in groups of two. If there's any disturbances coming from any of you, I won't hesitate to change your seats and deduct points from your houses."

"Yes, Professor." The group walked in and found only three other people in the room: Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. The four decided it was best to stay as far away from them as possible. Syaoran and Sakura formed one pair, while Tomoyo and Hotaru formed another.

The next group to enter was Harry's, but the trio was completely separated. Then the other students finally started to show up.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Snape came into the room and immediately started to bark out orders. Everyone rushed to get out their parchment and quills to take notes.

Sakura and the other transfer students found it best to use Japanese characters, as Japanese is, after all, their first language. Well, Syaoran found it easier to use Chinese, of course.

Since they were required to take home economics classes during their schooling in Japan, the group was fully used to following instructions of the cooking sort; the two pair's potions also came out perfectly. Snape hated to have to give good marks to Gryffindor, but as Tomoyo and Sakura were paired with those from Slytherin, he had no choice. "See class, this is how your potions are supposed to look." Snape showed the class the two perfectly blue potions. "Done correctly these potions should be blue and be able to heal most any injuries caused by minor spells and hexes."

"This would have been handy years ago," said Harry under his breath. He was remembering some of the different spells used when he and his friends were fighting Draco and his bodyguards.

"What was that, Potter?" asked Snape angrily. "20 points from Gryffindor."

"He can't do that," Tomoyo whispered to Hotaru. "That's so unfair." Snape turned his attention to Tomoyo.

"Did you wish to add to the deductions, Miss Daidouji?"

"No, Professor," she replied shamefully.

"Then I suggest you remain silent."

"Yes, Professor," Tomoyo looked down in disgrace, she'd never had problems with teachers before. But this teacher seemed to hate every student. That is, unless you're a Slytherin. Tomoyo could see a smug smile coming across Draco's face. If it was in her, Tomoyo would have borrowed Syaoran's trait, and scowled like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately, being around Syaoran didn't rub off too much and she remained polite, if not a bit miffed. Seeing where Tomoyo's glance had been, Hotaru decided to scowl for her. Draco's smile quickly faded upon seeing Hotaru's expression. He then went back to his potion that had somehow turned a dark green.

Hotaru was pleased to have such control over someone. She figured it was her Sailor Saturn side that enjoyed this. After her rebirth from when she stopped an evil being that was bent on destroying the world, Horaru's mind and her alter ego, Saturn, were merged so as to make a more complete person, instead of the two extremes. Hotaru was completely nice and polite, while Saturn would stop at nothing to get what she wanted and mildly enjoyed destruction; then again, that's why she's known as the Sailor Soldier of Death and Destruction.

Potion's class wasn't even half way over, and yet Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, and Hotaru were completely finished. All the group could do was sit and wait, as they were all too afraid to talk, since they noticed house points seemed to be a very big deal to everyone. Snape noticed the four were doing nothing but twiddling their thumbs. He thought that any student not busy with work was planning something that would disrupt the class. So, Snape decided to send the four to groups having the most problems.

"See if you can't get things straightened out," Snape said. "I usually don't allow group's help, but at the rate some of these students are going, they might just end up blowing up the school." The four almost laughed at this statement, but his voice hinted that he was being quite serious. "Miss Daidouji, you're to help Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom. Miss Kinomoto and Mr. Li, go and help Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle. They'll need more than one person to straighten things out. And Miss Tomoe, you'll be helping Mr. Malfoy, as he opted to not allow his partner's help I'm switching you and his partner. Perhaps things will flow more smoothly the rest of the year with you two as partners."

Hotaru was completely shocked, to say the least. She couldn't help but think, 'He planned this, didn't he. I know this is some sort of conspiracy.'

To Hotaru's surprise, Draco was just as shocked to learn of this change in events. Hotaru decided to avoid looking at him and concentrate on the potion, which was now a fierce red. "What the hell did you do?" she asked, astonished that anyone could have gotten something so completely wrong. "How did I get stuck with this mess," she thought out loud.

"I did the best I could, it's not my fault I was paired up with-" he stopped abruptly as Hotaru put her hand in the air so as to silence him.

"I wasn't referring to the potion," she said, making Draco feel a bit hurt. Hotaru figured it might be best to keep thoughts like that to herself, as she didn't actually enjoy hurting people's feelings, then moved to get started on the potion. "Let me see your notes." Draco handed her his parchment; Hotaru raised an eyebrow in question. "Well, I suppose you could have done the potion correctly if you'd written legibly. You actually used the wrong ingredients, although I think this can be fixed, I just need my notes I took when I got bored in Arithmancy, hold on while I retrieve my belongings."

When Hotaru returned with her notes she immediately started telling Draco what ingredients they needed to salvage the horrendous mess he made of the potion. Draco wasn't entirely convinced that she was telling him the correct ingredients. "Let me see your notes." He grabbed the notes from Hotaru almost rudely. "What in the world is this supposed to be?" he asked trying to make sense of the markings on the parchment.

"It's Japanese," she said, then added in thought, 'You uncultured swine.' Draco could tell she was suppressing some sort of rude comment, so he decided to play it cool try to act in his usual disinterested manner. He then tossed the notes carelessly on the desk.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to trust you're actually telling me the right ingredients," he said dryly.

"Oh, like I trust this teacher to not count this against me if your potion blows up?"

"I take it you don't like Professor Snape?"

"That's not the problem," she said almost defensively. "I just don't feel he likes anyone."

"That's not entirely true, I mean he likes the Slytherins well enough, I mean I know he likes me."

'Surprise, surprise,' she thought. "Well, your potion's fixed." Draco was somewhat baffled by this statement, but the potion had turned the right color. He hadn't even realized that she'd been adding ingredients as they were talking.

"Well that wasn't so hard," said Draco.

"Speak for yourself. You only just ruined it. You didn't fix it. Next time try to pay attention while you're writing and perhaps you'll actually add the correct ingredients."

"Well, if you're going to be my partner, I don't really have to worry about taking incorrect notes."

"If you think I'm going to do all the work while-" Draco interrupted her in mid sentence.

"I didn't mean to imply that you'd be doing all the work. I just meant that you'd be able to catch my mistakes before I ruin another potion."

"Oh." Hotaru was slightly embarrassed that she had jumped to conclusions. "Yeah, but I think you should still learn to write legibly or you could end up creating a potion that could possibly injure yourself and others."

"Did I detect a hint of concern?" he asked. Hotaru looked slightly shocked at this, but tried to regain composure.

"Well, of course, for the other students." She then changed to a mocking tone, "Did you think I'd care if you got hurt? I just don't want be blown up." She then suddenly changed to a more serious tone, "It's happened before, and I'm not looking forward to a third time."

"Third time?" he asked extremely puzzled. Hotaru knew she'd said way too much.

"Oh, I was just joking." She laughed nervously.

"Somehow I don't believe you," he said then paused to think. Draco looked at Hotaru questioningly, "Does it have anything to do with that conversation you had the first night? Tell me what that 'sailor' thing was about."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"You can't be trusted," she then shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't pass judgement so quickly, as I don't know you well enough. However, I haven't known you long enough to know whether you're trustworthy or not. But still, you shouldn't concern yourself with my affairs as they don't include you." Draco opened his mouth to respond but was stopped short as Snape told the class it was time to go. Hotaru quickly gathered her belongings and joined her friends in the hall. They were going to head to the Great Hall for lunch when Draco stopped them.

"Wait, I need to talk to you," he told Hotaru.

"Was that a demand or a request?" she asked but didn't bother to wait for an answer. "Well, either way I have neither reason nor need to talk to you, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way. Good day to you, sir."

"But-"

"I said 'good day'," she interrupted and strode away quickly with her friends close behind.

"What was that about, Hotaru-chan?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know, but I don't really care; it was probably something cruel and I didn't want to hear it."

After lunch was Care for Magical Creatures with Hagrid. Sakura and the others were glad to be outside for a change. She'd hated the dungeon looking classroom, as it had no windows and brought images of Crabbe and Goyle's horribly screwed up potion. She was just relieved that as it boiled and bubbled, the potion didn't get on her as the concoction had turned acid like and left scorch marks on the desk where the drops had landed. She and Syaoran had to make the inept Crabbe and Goyle start from the beginning again, as there was no way to recover their potion by any means. Sakura then shook the thoughts away.

The class met outside of the gamekeeper's hut, and awaited the arrival of the teacher. Hagrid came out of the hut with his dog, Bore. Sakura was a little shocked at his height, as Hagrid was a half giant. Tomoyo saw the surprised expression on her friend's face.

"It's all right, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said soothingly. "He's really nice. Harry took me to meet him. He only looks slightly frightening."

Sakura's shock slowly faded as Hagrid began to speak and his voice was no where booming enough to be frightening. She guessed he must be a 'gentle' giant.

Hagrid told the class that since the creatures for the day's class wouldn't be in until the next meeting they could have a free period; he then added that they should read chapter 1 in their books to learn about the creature for the next class.

Sakura's group decided to spend their free time by the lake, since it was such a beautiful day and none of them wanted to waste it by going inside. Harry's group, even Hermione, couldn't pass on an opportunity to spend time outdoors. The two groups made their way to a tree near the lake, except for Hotaru who was somewhat lagging behind the others. Draco took this chance to approach her.

"I need to talk to you," he said, walking up behind her. Hotaru turned to address him, and had every intention to tell him off but a sort of distressed look on his face made her give in.

"Fine," she said throwing her arms up as if in surrender. "You win, what do you want?"

"Well I wanted to…oh, put your arms down," he said. Hotaru quickly dropped her arms. "I just wanted to talk to someone. I mean, I do have friends that I talk to, but no one I can really trust."

"But you'll trust someone you've only just met?"

"Well, I guess, but I also want to earn your trust by telling you this."

"Okay…go on."

"Here's the deal-I know something that is crucial to the safety of everyone at this school. The problem is that if I tell the wrong people my family could be sent to Azkaban." Hotaru just looked at him awkwardly. "A prison for wizards."

"Oh," Hotaru said before adding. "Well, if it's crucial to the safety of thousands as compared to, what, three people, I suggest you spill it as the lives of many outweigh the few."

"You might be right, but if you'll listen to my predicament perhaps you'll help me figure out another option."

"All right, shoot."

"You know about Harry and his dealings with a certain someone right," he waited for Hotaru to nod her understanding before continuing. "Well after the last battle he-who-must-not-be-named was utterly drained of most of his energy, which left him open to attacks. Which was exactly what happened."

"So Voldemort was attacked, is he dead?"

"He's still very much alive, due to the fact that he had experimented with immortality, but he was apprehended shortly after and placed under strict supervision."

"So, what's the big deal, his power's gone right?"

"Well, he no longer has his powers nor the ability to regain them, but there is still a very big deal."

"And that would be…" Hotaru said trying to prod him on.

"He was attacked by an unidentifiable creature that seemed to emit a powerful energy."

"And that'ssss…bad?" she said drawing out the words as if she didn't seem to think that it was the right one to use.

"Well, yeah. I mean, even though 'his' energy was low that still didn't mean that he didn't have power to be absorbed. And once 'his' remaining power was gone the creature had then started in on 'his' followers, one of which was my dad. The creature succeeded in taking the powers of several followers, which left them dead. And my father would have died as well if the remaining followers hadn't decided to jump in and attack the creature. The creature then got incredibly furious and although the followers were able to injure it, the creature escaped; but not before vowing revenge on those that hurt it."

"Okay," said Hotaru trying to let everything sink in. "Just how does getting revenge on the 'followers,' as you call them, have anything to do with the students at this school?"

"Well, when he vowed revenge, he swore that he would destroy their children and any other person to get in his way."

"Even so, how would he know where to find their children?"

"He also mentioned something about being able to absorb memories along with power, and since most of the followers children go to Hogwarts, well one can imagine that the parents would know where the school is."

"Ooh, look at me, I'm shaking in my little boots," Hotaru said feigning terror. "I mean, isn't Dumbledore the most powerful wizard, or something that even Voldemort was afraid of? So, why worry?"

"Maybe you should worry, as Dumbledore is very powerful he's not psychic and as no one but 'his' followers know of the creature's existence, one can bet that even the great Dumbledore won't be able to protect us."

"Oh. Well, you should really tell someone, maybe, say, Dumbledore, so as he can protect us."

"Uh, hello, I can't tell Dumbledore as he hates my family and would gladly see my dad in Azkaban."

"Then what about the elf teacher, she seems nice enough and as she has probably never met your family so she can't make a biased decision on ratting them out but just be able to explain things to Dumbledore without the risk of your family going to Azkaban." Draco kind of had an odd expression on his face that seemed to say 'I never expected good advice from anyone.'

"Thanks, Tomoe. You know, I've never actually been given good advice before."

"Well you're welcome. So, when are you going to talk to her?"

"Sometime this week, I suppose."

"That's not good enough, how about tomorrow as that's when we have class with her, I'll even wait for you after class. But I should probably join my friends now. So tomorrow. After DADA." She and Draco then parted ways. When Hotaru joined the group they all demanded to know what he wanted. She replied to these demands as, "It's a funny story, I'll tell you later."

So how do you like things so far? I'll have the next chapters up as soon as I finish them. I hope you're enjoying reading my little story, as much as I enjoyed writing it. -


	6. Secrets Revealed

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

Secrets Revealed

After the Slytherin's DADA class, Hotaru and Draco waited for the last of the stragglers to leave the classroom before they would speak to the teacher. Gladriel already knew that they wished to speak with her so she was the first to respond when the last Slytherin left.

"I know you wish to speak with me, and I know why, the only thing that needs to be spoken of is what's been planned to deal with this issue."

Draco and Hotaru exchanged looks that kind of said 'that was just a little creepy'. "I guess, I mean we are talking about the creature issue, right?" asked Draco.

"Yes, and it's not necessary that you worry about your family, as the Ministry of Magic has already been informed of the creatures existence." 

"How is that possible? I mean, the only people that know of what happened would never tell, and besides The Daily Prophet didn't mention anything about the creature, " said Draco.

"Perhaps, but this was only to protect the people from worrying. The Daily Prophet has an article coming out today about Voldemort's capture, it just doesn't say what kind of strict security he would be kept under," said Gladriel. "After the followers had all left the area, some of my people stumbled across what was left of Voldemort. He was alive, but only just. With a little elvish medicine we revived him and after much difficulty we were able to learn of the creature. The council then immediately informed the Ministry of Magic of the situation and we made arrangements to imprison Voldemort, as Azkaban would never do, and aid the Ministry in any way possible. We felt this was necessary as there would be too many lives at risk with a new creature running around."

"There's only one thing I don't understand," said Hotaru. "If Voldemort had been around for years and lives have always been at steak, why are you only now seeing fit to help others?"

"That is because we were letting history play out the way it was meant to, but now things have changed and an unexpected player has emerged. The creature was never meant to receive those powers and how this has been able to happen I don't know. You see, when history's path is somehow altered it is quite prudent that we are to get involved so as to correct the problem."

"How do you know that that's what you're meant to do? I mean, are you sure you're not supposed to be part of our history and it's changing it's self purposely to get you involved?" asked Hotaru.

"That may be, but if that were true we would have had to intervene in human affairs many more times then we've had to, then again sometimes the correct path of history eludes even elven eyes, so perhaps history is merely doing what it was meant to do."

"Well, anyway, I guess I kind of just want to know that we're going to be safe," said Hotaru.

"Of course _you_ will be, but just as an added precaution for others we have arranged for elves to be on patrol around the clock. They've been watching the school for any disturbances for the last couple of days."

"How come we haven't seen any of these 'patrol elves'?" asked Draco.

"That is because elves are born warriors and trained to blend in with their surroundings. Now, if you have any more questions I'll be around, but if you don't hurry you'll be late for your next class."

"Oh, my gosh, I completely forgot," said Hotaru. "Thank you for your time." She gave a slight bow, grabbed Draco, and the two made a mad dash for their next class, just barely making it in time. They stood in the doorway for a second to catch their breath before taking their seats. Syaoran just eyed the two wearily, but figured he'd try to get Sakura to find out what they had been up to. He didn't like Draco in the slightest, but wasn't about to get involved in someone else's affairs, for all he knew the two could have just been late…coincidentally…at the same time. 'No, prying is wrong, I don't need to know,' Syaoran thought to himself. For some reason Syaoran felt the need to protect all of his friends, but mostly he just disliked Draco.

During dinner the subject of Hotaru and Draco had finally been brought up. "Jeez, you guys are making it sound like we're having some sort of love affair," said Hotaru.

"Well, we only ask because we care," said Sakura. "I mean, we don't really know a whole lot about this guy, but from what I hear, he's bad news."

"I know all that, but he was having a problem that needed a solution, I was merely offering him one."

"Well alright," said Sakura. "But if you wish to hang out with this guy, I want to make sure it's safe to, so no more going off alone with him. That is, until we know he can be trusted."

"Okay, but that means if we do hang out-not that we will or anything-but that means you have to be nice to him."

Sakura just gave a little 'who me look', "But I'm always nice."

"I wasn't referring to you," she said while giving Syaoran a stern look. Syaoran just responded with his own 'who me?' look. " Oh, give it up, Li-kun, you're not fooling anyone."

"Oh, fine," said Syaoran. "I just won't say anything."

"Well, don't do that. That's worse then just being mean," said Hotaru.

"Then I'll just try my darndest not to say anything mean then, I suppose?"

"That's all I ask."

After dinner the group parted ways and as they were leaving the Great Hall Sakura reminded Syaoran that his report needed to be sent out soon. As Syaoran had completely forgotten about it he rushed ahead to get to his dormitory to finish the report. Sure Touya was miles away, but he wanted to keep it that way and if making daily reports was the way to do it, Syaoran was going to keep the updates coming.

As Syaoran rushed to the Slytherin room he had completely left Hotaru alone to be approached by a sinister looking boy. "Hey, Malfoy-san," said Hotaru as Draco started walking with her to the common room.

"Hey. Why exactly do you call me 'Malfoy-san'?" he asked.

"Oh, it's just a show of respect. Why?"

"Well, I don't know, I guess as we're friends now you could just call me Draco."

"Alright, Draco-kun."

"There, you did it again, what's with the added word, just call me 'Draco'."

Hotaru just gave a small "eep". "We're not that close. In Japan only really close friends and significant others don't use them."

Draco sort of blushed at this, "Oh, well, that's okay then, just call me whatever you want to." They walked a bit in silence before either of them spoke again.

"You know, Draco-kun, about what our teacher said, I was wondering how you had found out about Voldmort's condition, even though you seemed to make it clear that no one stayed around to see if he was alright, until she'd mentioned the article."

"Yeah, I get the Daily Prophet sent to me every day, that's what made me think to bring it up." A little more silence followed. "So…are you ever going to tell me your secret."

"I guess, but it's a little too public. Just wait until there's less of a chance of someone listening in."

"How about tonight in the common room, I mean, after everyone leaves, of course."

"That sounds all right." Just then Syaoran ran up to the two.

"I knew I forgot something," he said to Hotaru, while glancing at Draco.

"Is there something you wanted?" Draco asked of Syaoran, dryly.

"Yes, I've been ordered to escort the lady."

"Well, she's already got an escort," replied Draco.

"And you're the reason I've been asked to be her escort."

"Why's that?"

"Well," said Hotaru jumping in. "You have to admit that your reputation is less than…commendable."

"So your friends don't like me because of my reputation. How can you judge someone without even getting to know them first?" Draco said coolly towards Syaoran.

"Actually, Draco-kun, that's why he and all my friends have agreed to look after me; it's so they can get to know you first hand and not just judge you by hearsay."

"Whatever," said Draco as they finally reached their destination.

Once everyone had left the common room, Hotaru and Draco met as planned, and they'd even fooled Syaoran into leaving so the two could chat. "So what is this big secret, Tomoe?"

"The thing is that I don't know if you'd fully comprehend this whole thing unless you actually see me transformed."

"Transformed? What are you some kind of animagi?" he asked.

"No, I'm…ani-what? Oh, never mind. Well I'll just have to show you." She took several steps away from Draco, "You might want to shield your eyes." Draco just looked at her as if she was insane or something. "Saturn Planet Power, Make-up!" she yelled.

Draco was taken aback as a bright light filled the room and engulfed Hotaru, he, of course, had to shield his eyes. When the light had finally ebbed it revealed Hotaru to be wearing a strange costume with an extremely short skirt. "What in hell was that, some fancy way of getting dressed?"

Hotaru merely glared and decided to make known who she really was. She called her Silence Glaive into being. Seeing the large weapon made Draco a little uneasy and gulped at the sight of it. "Don't worry, I won't use it on you," she said seeing the reaction he had to her weapon. "Let me explain," she began. "I am the soldier of destruction, my guardian deity is the planet of silence. The warrior of death and rebirth…Sailor Saturn."

"Well…that's nice, but I guess that this explains how you were placed in this house. I mean with a title like that, well, you definitely wouldn't of fit in with any other houses."

"I suppose."

"You know, I just thought of something that elf teacher said earlier. She said something about you being all right, I just didn't really pick up on it before. I guess this is why she said it. I mean as a warrior you've probably seen many battles."

"Yeah, I guess, actually, recalling what I'd said in potions, during a battle was one of the times that ended in an explosion and I was reborn."

"Right…and the other?"

"That happened in my father's lab when I was about four. This was before my rebirth."

"Okay, so you're some sort of warrior that likes destruction?"

"Not entirely," she said. "I mean, I am a warrior, but it's not that I like destruction, but that's what my powers do. I bring silence to worlds, it's not something I'm proud of but it's what has to be done at times. My main purpose in life is to protect this planet and our princess, from any outside, or at times, inside force."

"Princess?"

"Yes, she's our leader, also known as Sailor Moon."

"You know, if you hadn't transformed I probably would have never believed someone like you could be a warrior, Tomoe."

Saturn just moved her glaive menacingly, "How about you just call me Hotaru."

"How about you just put that thing away," Draco was just a bit nervous when sharp objects were in a close vicinity of him. Hotaru just looked at her glaive then noticed she was in a somewhat threatening pose.

"Oops," she said and decided to de-transform, which caused her glaive to disappear, as well as change her outfit back into the pajamas she was wearing before.

"You know I just have one last question," said Draco, pondering something.

"What's that?"

"Why don't you wear you're skirt that short more often?"

Hotaru then took on Syaoran's scowl and rightly bopped Draco on the back of the head before running up to her room. 'What a jerk,' thought Hotaru. 'He'll have to try a lot harder than he had before if he ever want's me to talk to him again.'

Even Draco couldn't believe what an idiot he'd been, 'Man it was hard enough to talk to her the first time, I am the biggest jerk ever. I'll just have to be more persistent and watch what I say from now on,' he thought as he went back to his room.


	7. Operation Modification

A/N: I had hoped this chapter would have been done sooner, dratted writers block. I hope to have the next chapter up within the next week or so, sooner if I didn't have so many school projects to complete. Oh, well. I really have no idea how many chapters this thing is going to be, but as it's only like their second week of school, you're in for a long ride. I might speed time up a bit when the mood hits me. Well enjoy. -

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

Operation: Modification

Hotaru tried her hardest to avoid Draco, but as they had every class together and shared the same house, it was a little difficult. She later figured that just ignoring him worked better. This system worked pretty well, for a couple of days anyway, until they had Snape's class, as potions required some teamwork to make the concoction turn out correctly.

"You know, you're going to have to talk to me eventually," said Draco as he added some necessary ingredients to the potion. "I mean, with my illegible handwriting how am I supposed to know which of these is the correct ingredient to use?" He then held up two brightly colored plants, one of which wiggled as he held it. Hotaru just continued to be interested in her notes and paid no attention to what he was holding.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to guess." He looked at the two plants and did a little eany-meany-miney-moe type thing. Hotaru gave a short glance out of the corner of her eye as he finally decided on one.

"This is the one…I think," said Draco as he was about to drop the wiggling plant into the potion. Hotaru quickly jumped up to stop him.

"No!" she yelled as she grabbed the plant away from him. "You're going to kill us all."

"Ha! It worked," he said gloatingly. Hotaru was just looking at the plant as he said this.

"Bad plant, how did you get out here," she said looking around. "I'd better put you back where you belong." She then walked over to Snape's closet to put the wiggling plant away.

Draco just looked slightly depressed as Hotaru had succeeded in making him look like a fool as she had feigned talking to the plant, and had not talked to him. "Or not," he said as he began to formulate a new plan to get her to at least be on speaking terms again.

On the other side of the room, Syaoran just sat and scowled at Draco, while occasionally adding the needed items to the potion. He waited for Snape to be out of earshot before he'd talk to Sakura. "I really don't like that guy," he said. Sakura then followed Syaoran's gaze.

"Oh, Syaoran-kun, you should really let it go. I mean, Hotaru-chan can take care of herself," said Sakura. "And besides, my brother always says the same thing about you."

"Yeah, but look at them," he said as Hotaru had returned to her workstation and continued to ignore Draco. "She really doesn't even seem to like his company."

"It's all right; she's just teaching him a lesson. Just let them work it out."

"How can you be sure it'll be okay?"

"I talked to her before class, she has a plan to try and get Malfoy-san to shed his harsh exterior, or in other words, to de-Slytherin him."

Syaoran just gave her a disbelieving look, "That's going to take a lot of work."

"That's why she's asked for our help."

"What are you up to?" Sakura just smiled sweetly at Syaoran.

"I'm not up to anything," she said innocently. "This plan was not my doing; I've only just become a part of it, as you will be."

Syaoran just had no clue as to what was going on in Sakura's head. "Don't look so worried, Syaoran-kun. It's not like anyone's going to get hurt from this."

"Well, I don't know," said Syaoran. "If Hotaru keeps going on the way she is, Malfoy-san's pride will be completely shattered."

"Actually, we're just trying to deflate his ego. And since pride never seems to do anything but hurt others, what's the use of him keeping it? It'll just ruin him in the end. I think its best he get rid of his smugness disguised as pride before it's too late. I mean, from what I heard, and even read, Malfoy-san's father's a sort of shady character, and Malfoy-san seems to be heading in the same direction. I really think something can be done about this."

Syaoran just sat there trying to understand what Sakura had just said. He then remembered when his pride had consumed him. He could then see why Sakura hoped that Draco could also be rid of it. "I guess you're right, but how did you find out about Malfoy-san's father?"

"Oh, Hermione-chan had showed us the newspaper article from the Daily Prophet this morning, it talked about the capture of he-who-must-not-be-named as well as some people who had once been in league with him, or believed to be in league with. One such person was Malfoy-san's father, Lucius Malfoy. They're from a so called 'distinguished' or pure blood family."

"So…this guy, Malfoy-san's father, is completely bad news?"

"Big time. I just hope it's not too late for Malfoy-san to come back from the darkside."

"I'm sure of it, Sakura-chan. I mean, there's no harm in at least trying, right?"

Sakura was about to respond to this, but noticed that Snape was looking in her direction. She figured it would be best to continue the conversation after potions was over.

On the way to their Care for Magical Creatures class, Sakura filled Syaoran in on the plan which had been code named 'Operation: Change Draco' which they later changed to 'Operation: Modification' so Draco wouldn't be as suspicious as they didn't have to say his name anymore. Draco's ears seemed to perk when his name was mentioned, guess he's paranoid or something.

Sakura and Syaoran then relayed the plan to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Tomoyo seemed to already know the plan; Sakura couldn't figure out how, as she hadn't even been in earshot of the conversation. Then again, Tomoyo did seem to get the hang of the Taro cards pretty easily, and to Trelawney's misfortune, actually make accurate predictions, none of which involved any death or dismemberment. Aww, poor Trelawney, no carnage for you, well, just yet anyway.

Harry and Ron were a little hesitant to go along at first, as the plan would call for them to be civil towards Draco. Hermione then reminded the two that Draco seemed to get worse every year so perhaps if they started being nice, then the viciousness of Draco would hopefully dissipate. However, Ron and Harry knew that if Tomoyo and Hermione were in on the plan there was no way they couldn't be a part of it as well, so as to avoid punishment for backing out. Like they'd get on the girls' bad side this early in the year.

While the plan was being discussed, Hotaru just kept up the game of ignoring Draco, all the while weakening his defenses as he tried almost everything to get her to talk to him. But for the plan to be successful he'd have to endure her silence. After all, it wasn't just that she wanted Draco to switch gears and drive away his evil habits, but she also wanted him to respect her. Because how can respect be earned if you let someone walk all over you and assume that they can just get away with saying just about anything. No way she'd ever let herself become a doormat. No, he was going to learn how to respect people if it killed him.

"Come on, Hotaru," said Draco, really starting to get frustrated. She took no notice as his voice became angrier; as she was too busy playing with the odd creature that made cute squeaking sounds as she held it in her arms.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Draco was fuming at this point; annoyed that anyone would go this long without giving him his much-desired attention. "At least talk to me, it's not like I said anything that horrible." He then made a grab for the creature held by Hotaru, which changed the adorable squeaks to a horrible squeal.

"Now look what you've done," said Hotaru finally addressing Draco. "You've moved from torturing me to attacking poor little creatures."

"I didn't attack it; I was just trying to get you to talk to me."

"Well, it worked. But I think you owe someone an apology," she said, while placing her free hand on her hips somewhat impatiently.

"Fine," he said in a mildly defeated tone. He dropped his eyes to the side and said, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, like that was believable," she said annoyed. "But I was actually referring to the creature you assaulted."

"I didn't even…You've got to be joking."

"I don't joke about things like this, and you'd better be more sincere to the 'Little Guy' than you were to me. And for your horribly unbelievable apology, you're going to have to try way harder to be even close to friend status again."

"All right, I'll apologize. And I will make it up to you; I don't even know why I even said that out loud."

"Next time you say something like that make sure you stop before you get to 'out loud' and then you might have something," she practically scolded. "Now, apologize to the 'Little Guy'."

Draco was just glad that none of the other Slytherins, or Gryffindors for that matter, were around to hear his pathetic attempt to apologize to the small creature. They'd never let him live it down if they had. But he was just glad he was making some progress in getting Hotaru to talk to him. Little did he know that there was a plot against him devised by Hotaru, and he was walking straight into her trap. Hotaru mentally tapped her fingers together sinisterly, as actually doing this physically would raise questions, and eyebrows that suggested 'weirdo'.

Hotaru then looked around just to make sure the finger tapping had been just in her head, as no one really seemed to look at her any differently, she made her way to Sakura's group to see how the plan was going. "So, how's the scheming going?"

"Everyone's now in on it," said Sakura. Just then a small cat-like creature with wings came fluttering out of the sky.

"Spinel Sun?" asked Sakura, Syaoran, and Tomoyo in unison, all mildly shocked.

The small plushie look alike was carrying a letter in his paws, "This is for you, Sakura-san. Eriol thought it would be best if I delivered the letter, mostly because he does not possess and owl. He has information for you about this school, and some of the goings on in the magical world, just like you asked."

"Oh, thank you, Spinel Sun," said Sakura.

"'Like you asked'? Sakura-chan, when did you send a letter to Hiiragizawa-san?" asked Syaoran.

"I sent it the first night we got here," she replied.

"Yes, and I'm sorry for the delay, but there were certain things that had to be settled first, mostly he was just annoyed by a certain title that was bestowed upon him." Sakura and Tomoyo giggled at this remark, everyone else just looked at them curiously. "Anyway, he finally calmed down enough to write a reply," Spinel finished. Sakura then took the letter and scanned it.

"Well, he was still a bit miffed when he wrote this wasn't he," said Tomoyo, glancing at the letter. "But there's a lot of information on the school's history, and there's even a map." The map resembled that of the marauder's map, as Harry noted, looking over Sakura's shoulder.

"I have something I must speak with Ceroberus about, where is he?" Spinel inquired.

"He's in the girls' dormitories, no doubt eating," replied Hermione.

"Thank-you," and with that he flew off towards the school.

"I wonder why he needs to talk to Kero-chan." Sakura thought out loud.

"Well class is almost over so we can go to the dorms to check," offered Tomoyo.

"Now that that's settled, what are we going to do about Malfoy?" wondered Ron.

"What ever it is, I know for a fact that there'll be a lot of magic involved," said Harry. "Dealing with Malfoy will be no easy task if we just guilt him, we'll have to guilt him as well as use other means to make anything happen."

"What do you mean?" asked Hotaru. "And remember I said, 'Be nice'."

"Of course I remember, I just meant that what you're doing is a great start, trying to make him feel bad," said Harry. "But for it to really take effect well have to amplify anything we do with magic so as to break his barriers down sooner. 'Cause, at the rate you're going, no offense, it'll be at least a couple years before he starts to really warm up to anyone."

"Oh, well that's all right then." Hotaru just gave a little wave as if trying to shoo off her original thought of what Harry was implying.

As the group discussed plans of pain for Draco, he could only sit and wonder what they were up to, knowing that it must somehow involve him. See. Paranoid.


	8. Strange Behavior

A/N: Whew, this chapter took more time to finish than expected; it's also longer than intended…yeah. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoy it. I'll hopefully have the next chapter up a lot sooner than this one, but I make no guarantees. Now on to the disclaimer, and all that good stuff.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Harry Potter, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, or Lord of the Rings, although that would be cool if I did, but alas…what was I saying? Oh yeah, all the different stories are trademarks of their actual creators, yeah, and stuff, so please don't attack me with blunt objects and the like for using them for my own sorted purposes of making people suffer though my writing…K, what was that…I think I'm going crazy. Well, whatever, read on.

Strange Behavior

When Sakura and the other Gryffindors, arrived at the common room, there was a lot of commotion and everyone seemed to be chasing something.

"Quick, grab it!" yelled one of the prefects. Harry tried to stop someone long enough to find out what was going on. He was finally able to catch Neville as he cowered behind a sofa.

"What's happened?" questioned Harry.

"Oh, it's awful, this creature somehow got in the tower-I think it's possessed." Neville seemed quite scared that the creature would come after him if he even dared to move an inch from his hiding spot. The group tried to see what the creature was, but it was moving incredibly too fast, just then Kero flew over to them, wearing a very satisfied smile.

Sakura just gave him a disappointed look, "Kero, what did you do to Spinel Sun?"

"I didn't do anything, I just offered him some of my cookies, which he gladly accepted," he said gleefully, with a suspicious gleam in his eye. Sakura just shook her head. Hermione then stepped up with a brilliant plan.

"Petrificus Totalus," said Hermione as she pointed her wand in the general direction of Spinel. The flying cat thing suddenly froze in mid-flight and dropped to the floor. Tomoyo quickly ran to scoop him up just in time, as the whole group of Gryffindors nearly trampled him. 

The prefect then restored his composure, and thanked Hermione, saying that he had the same idea, but was merely testing the other's to see if they would think of it as well, so he wouldn't look like a showoff. 'Sheah, right.' Hermione was a prefect as well, but didn't feel it necessary to make a big deal about it, she figured she'd let the boy take care of introductory duties and the like, as he did seem to like the spotlight. 'Boys, sheesh, they're all so full of themselves.'

While Hermione was distracting the prefect, Tomoyo had snuck out of the tower with the frozen 'Suppie', closely followed by the others. Hermione was to catch up after calming down some of the startled Gryffindors. Within minutes Sakura, Tomoyo, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Kero had made their way down to Hagrid's cabin, where they had planned to meet. Syaoran and Hotaru were waiting with Hagrid to see what was up.

Tomoyo set Spinel on the table, "How long should we keep him this way-I mean, how long do you suppose he'll be…hyper?"

"We probably can unfreeze him a couple of minutes or so. He should have calmed down by then…I hope," replied Sakura.

"So, Kero, is it? Um, what exactly did this other 'travel-sized' guy want, and why was he all crazy like that?" asked Hermione.

"Well…" started Kero. "Why he was 'all crazy like that' as you put it is because he gets a little drunk when he eats sweets, but it's not something we like to talk about. I guess I sort of forgot about his little problem."

"Okay, but what did he need to talk to you about?" asked Syaoran.

"It's nothing that concerns you," Kero replied.

"Aw, come on Kero-chan. Can't you tell us?" Sakura pleaded, with puppy-dog eyes.

"It's not my news to tell," he said while glancing at Hotaru. She noticed the look and had a feeling that this Eriol guy knew something about the new creature as well. 'But how did they figure out that I knew something about it?' she thought. No one else even noticed the glance so they went on pestering Kero.

"I'm sorry guys, but when the time is right you'll find out, now's just not the time."

"That's cruel, Kero-chan, keeping secrets," whined Tomoyo.

"Trying to guilt me won't work, Tomoyo. I'm not at liberty to say."

Tomoyo snapped her fingers in mock disappointment, "Drats. Well, I tried."

"Hey, should we unfreeze this other little guy now?" asked Hermione, as she prodded him with her wand.

"Yeah, said Sakura. "I'm sure he's calmed down some by now." Hermione then performed the counter charm and Spinel was back to his normal demeanor, just with slightly red cheeks.

"I would really appreciate it if you would never do that again, Cerberus," he said calmly.

"I didn't do anything," said Kero, feigning innocence. Spinel just gave Kero a disgruntled look.

"Well, in any case, I have to be leaving now. Eriol wants me back A.S.A.P. Good-bye."

"Bye," the group chorused, and with that Spinel exited through an open window and was gone.

"Well, his visit was almost pointless," said Hermione. "Since all he gave us was just some information that we, or at least that I, already knew about the school."

"I don't know, the map might come in handy," said Sakura.

"Actually, we already have a map," said Harry.

"Oh," said Sakura. "Well, nevermind." But Kero knew better than to think that 'Suppie's' trip was for nothing.

"Well it's getting kinda late, I guess, and I need to get started on my homework," said Hermione.

"Actually," said Tomoyo. "I should probably get started as well."

"Oh, yeah, I should start too," chimed Sakura. "How about we all just do our homework in the library together?"

"That sounds great," replied Syaoran.

"Yeah, I'll go too," said Harry.

"Count me in," added Ron.

Sakura then looked at Hotaru, "How about you?"

"Oh, um, I kinda tired, so I was just going to take a rest for awhile." She gave Kero a look. "But I'll meet you all for dinner."

"Okay," said Sakura. "C'ya then." They all said their good-byes and everyone but Hotaru made their way to the library. She instead headed towards the Slytherin common room, but ducked into an empty classroom to talk to Kero.

"Okay, so what do you know," she demanded of Kero.

"I only know what Spinel told me, and it wasn't much. But that Eriol's found out that somehow you've gotten yourself involved."

"But how-I mean, does he talk to elves as well, or by chance does he know any death-eaters?"

"Actually, I'm not sure how he found out but he's usually right on about these things. But what I want to know is how you found out about this new creature? As far as I know, the sailor soldiers only seem to know the goings on in or just around Tokyo."

"Well, I haven't informed the sailor soldiers of this, just yet, or anyone really. I found out from a fellow Slytherin and most of the other information I've picked up was received from my elven teacher."

"Elves, huh?" Kero thought for a moment. "I should probably speak with this teacher of yours."

"I'm sure she'll be at dinner tonight, and then we could just pull her aside afterwards," offered Hotaru.

"Yeah, and bring the one who informed you about this as well, I want to see if there's more to this than 'Suppie' was letting on."

"Okay," said Hotaru. "You're not going to tell Sakura or the others about this are you?"

"Well, someone will eventually have to tell them, once the creature becomes more of a threat, then we'll need all the help we can get," said Kero. "Until I find out more about this creature, it'll just be on a need to know bases between the ones that already know, I guess. Hopefully it won't come to needing to involve too many more people, as the more people find out, the more people will start to panic. Sure it might be better if people are well informed about possible harm to them, but we don't know yet how strong this thing is and if people decide to confront it on their own, it could be disastrous. So until we know if the threat is really serious, we'll just keep things on the down low."

"Good-I mean, I would like Sakura and the others to know, but I don't want to lose the trust of my friend, so I was just going to wait until he's found that the problem is bigger than he's letting on. But I will tell them before too long, I mean, I want us to be prepared if this creature ever does find us."

"Okay, well, it's almost time for dinner, I'll meet you afterward in your teacher's classroom," said Kero.

"Do you know where the classroom is?" asked Hotaru.

"Of course, I did get a chance to study that map, not for very long, but I know the way well enough."

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

After dinner Kero, Hotaru, Draco, and Gladriel were all discussing (what else) the creature (of course) and any updates on its whereabouts-or just anything about it really.

Draco, Hotaru, and Gladriel recapped the situation for Kero, who then added his two-cents. "From what I hear, the creature is on the move. Eriol's been keeping track of an enormous energy emitting from the highland area in Scotland. He decided to check it out and discovered that when he was getting close, the source of the energy seemed to be moving. Eriol had thought the energy source was something stationary, perhaps like a shrine of some sort, and was surprised to find a strange creature instead. The creature was obviously just as surprised to see that someone had found him that he panicked and attacked Eriol. Once Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun appeared, the creature fled, but not without taking a little of Eriol's power. As far as anyone could tell, the creature absorbed the ability to hide his power, so finding him again has proven to be quite a chore. They had him tracked until the creature started heading towards England, and they're sure he'll eventually end up here, but he didn't seem to be in any hurry. They assume that he's also got shape-shifting abilities, which is probably how they lost him. I mean tracking a monster like that wasn't too hard, which surprised Eriol that the creature had evaded them."

"Okay, but just one thing…" said Hotaru. "How did this Eriol guy find out that I was somehow involved, or even knew about?"

"Well, I was told to see if anyone knew about it, and you were the only one to react, so I just figured that you might know something," said Kero.

"So you didn't even have a clue that I would know, oh, I feel so used," she said in a mock disgusted voice.

"Well it was for a good reason; at least we're all now up to date with information. And now with me on the case we'll actually be able to solve this little problem," said an over confident Kero. Hotaru just rolled her eyes and Draco just seemed amused at the sight of the talking 'plush toy' thinking it could be of any help.

Gladriel then took this time to speak, "Perhaps it will, Cerberus." Everyone then turned to look at the elf. Kero was just awe struck. "When the time comes I'm sure you will be a great asset to our forces. I hope that it won't have to come to a battle. However, this news of yours might be why it's been terribly difficult to track the creature. Fortunately, we have our best out there and they have ways of getting around such magic. As of yet, there is no news from my people of the creature's whereabouts. As there are patrols all around the hour in the halls and the surrounding areas, there's no chance of the creature will be able to plan any sort of ambush."

"Well that's good to know, that there are precautions being taken about this," said Kero. "But I wonder something. Why is it that Dumbledore guy hasn't announced it the world? As I've heard from several people, it seems that he jumps at the chance to share with others information regarding, well, evil, I guess."

"That's my doing, I'm afraid. As much as I want people to be able to defend themselves by knowing what lies ahead, it would seem fool hearty to just announce to everyone that a creature possessing Voldemort's power has appeared. As no one even believed that he was back in the first place, really, and then they're now celebrating his demise, this little information might discredit Dumbledore and we'll need everyone still looking up to him in the future. I really don't want anyone to be a disbeliever this soon in the game, as of now there's no solid proof of the creature's existence, but once there is, Dumbledore has my word that he can then inform the populous."

Kero and Hotaru didn't quite know what to say to this new information, as they'd never personally met Dumbledore. However, Draco was practically disgusted from hearing Dumbledore's name spoken so frequently, and sneered at the thought of having to look to him for anything. Hotaru saw this look, and decided to try to lower his defenses. "So what are your thoughts on our Headmaster?" she asked.

Draco was quite shocked to hear this question. Did he dare tell her what he truly thought, or lie. He decided a mix of the two might work. "Well I was surprised to hear that he might be discredited," he said, and thought with a smirk, 'Yeah, surprised he even has any credit left to his name.' Hotaru could tell he was avoiding tell her what he really was thinking, but as he decided to take the high road and not blurt it out, she would let the question drop.

"As our conversation has ended, I suggest you two get to work on your homework. As I'm sure you know the O.W.L.s are coming at the end of the year, you don't want to get too far behind this early in the school year," said Gladriel.

"Yeah, I guess so, I'll see you later then," Hotaru said to Kero and Gladriel. She and Draco then started to make their way to the Slytherin common room.

"Oh, wait, I was going to finish my homework in the library," she said. "Did you want to join me?" Could his ears have deceived him or was Hotaru actually willing to spend time with him? "Well?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," said Draco, trying to sound uninterested.

"I wonder where Hotaru-chan is," said Sakura. "She did say that she was going to meet us after dinner?"

"Yeah, but she said she had to grab her school supplies first," said Hermione. "But she is taking a rather long time."

"I saw her walking towards the dungeons with Malfoy-san," said Tomoyo. "Their conversation's probably just taking longer than expected."

"Well if she doesn't hurry, it'll be 9 o'clock already and she'll have to do all the work without Hermione's help," said Ron.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked indignantly.

"I only meant that you'd be able to check our answers to insure that they're accurate, is all," Ron replied, feigning innocence.

"Sure…"

"Oh, there she is," said Sakura, pointing to the dark hair girl.

"Yeah, and she's with Malfoy?" said Harry.

"See, I knew they were talking," said Tomoyo.

Draco was in slight state of shock upon seeing whom they were to study with. "Um, actually I think that there's-uh-" Hotaru stopped him in mid-excuse as he headed towards the door.

"Aww, come on, Draco-kun, they're not that bad. I mean being in a study group with them for half an hour isn't going to kill you," she said while dragging him to the group's table.

'No, it's worse than death,' he thought. He then sat leering at the far end of the table next to Hotaru. Harry, Hermione, and Ron wore a look of utter disgust. Sakura and Tomoyo smiled kindly, while Syaoran just (what else) scowled.

"Okay…" said Hotaru, not really knowing what to do about the silence. "Which class work are you doing now?"

"Oh, we're on our Defense Against the Dark Arts," replied Tomoyo.

"Good, I've been having trouble with that shield thing," said Hotaru. "Which is odd, as it's usually my best defense." Everyone but Harry's group thought this was amusing, Saturn not being able to produce a shield? Ha…ha…oh…

Without noticing the irony, Hermione ploughed on through to the lessons; "Well it could be how you hold your wand while you perform the shield. See what you do is a sort of swish and jab motion."

"Oh, that explains a lot, I've been holding it all wrong," said Hotaru, thinking of her normal stance used for her own shield. "Thank you, Hermione-chan."

"Why, how have you been holding your wand?" Hermione inquired.

"Oh-uh, just wrong," said Hotaru blushing. Sakura and Tomoyo silently giggled.

"Hey has anyone else started their work for potions?" asked Ron. "I'm having trouble finding things to write 12in. on for the uses of black spores."

"I've already finished that long ago," said Draco smugly.

"Yeah, with Snape feeding you the answers," Harry whispered to Ron.

"Then you needn't be here," said Hermione impulsively. Draco was a little taken aback.

"Perhaps I should just leave then," said Draco as he made an attempt to leave. Hotaru caught him by the arm before he could stand. She then glanced at an already ashamed Hermione in warning, then turned to Draco.

"No, please stay," she pleaded, then addressed the group, "It's not going to do us any good if no one even puts any effort into getting along. So please try for at least these last minutes of studying to act civil towards each other. Just give it a go for 5 minutes, that's all I ask. Just to see if you can stomach it. After that, then just…whatever, okay?"

"Fine," the group grumbled.

"Good. Okay…" she started. "I guess to make this easier, I suppose you could at least give us some sources that gave information on the black spores."

"Well, I suppose that's not too bad. As long as none of you think for one minute that you could ever copy mine-" he stopped when he caught the look on Hotaru's face. He then just went to listing the books he used.

"Now we're making progress," said Hotaru cheerfully. "What's next?"

"Well, there's that paper for History of Magic, on the Giant wars. I'm having trouble finding information on it," said Draco.

"Most of the information could be found in the books you were supposed to get for the class," said Hermione. "Other than that, the rest should have been taken in notes."

"Well, no wonder," said Harry. "I couldn't find anything either."

"That's because you're always asleep in that class," said Hermione.

"Am not," said Harry indignantly. "I was just snoozing. There is a difference." Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Well if it's of any help, I took some notes that you could look at, Malfoy-san," offered Tomoyo. Draco raised a questioning brow. "Oh, don't worry. I've found a charm to translate my writing into English."

"Thanks," said Draco, taking the notes.

"Tomoyo-chan, do you think you could teach me that charm?" asked Hotaru.

"Of course," she replied.

"Thank you so much. It'll make the work go so much faster, as I won't have to look up practically every other word to translate. It's so frustrating," said Hotaru.

"Tell me about it," said Syaoran, remembering his early days at Tomoeda Elementary. "Chinese to Japanese was pretty tough, even though the two are quite similar, nothing like Japanese to English. Not really, anyway."

Hermione just took a moment to look at the exchange students. "There's something I've been wondering," she said. "How is it that you all speak perfect English, but know almost nothing of the written English?"

"Oh, that's because we never had a chance to learn English really; as it wasn't a required class, at least not for our year," said Sakura. "Anyway, when we were told we were to attend Hogwarts there was no where near enough time to learn an entire language before the start of the school year, so they sent us these pins," she then showed the others her winged pin. "Cute, ne? But anyway, they put a charm on the pins so we could speak and understand any language spoken to us."

"That's useful, but didn't they think to give you a charm for the written parts as well?" asked Hermione. Sakura just shrugged.

"Apparently not," Syaoran retorted. "But I suppose they just figured we could cope, or perhaps make a charm on our own. Although, throwing someone in a situation where it might have been useful to warn them ahead of time of what would be expected of them, was kind of negligent for our government, or just anyone really. I wonder why they didn't think things through."

"Maybe they didn't have time to think everything though," said Hotaru. Everyone just looked at her. She just shrugged and looked away.

"Perhaps," said Hermione. "But why wouldn't they have time to think things through?"

"Well, the dark lord's capture hadn't been widely known before school started," said Draco, trying to sound convincing. "They might have thought there wasn't anytime to act before he emerged to make himself known."

"Very astute, Malfoy," said Hermione. "I think that's the best and perhaps the only logical reason for this, I suppose."

'Or just the only reason that you know of,' thought Draco, who had no intention of telling anyone the actual possibility before it was necessary. Hotaru just glanced around nervously, but no one seemed to notice.

"I think it's time that we called it a night," said Harry, noticing the time. The group agreed, packed up their things and parted ways at the door.

"You know what," said Hermione. "I didn't find Malfoy quite as annoying as usual."

"That's because he wasn't talking that much," said Ron.

"But even so," started Hermione. "It's usually just his mere presence that annoys."

"Too true," said Ron. "I'd actually almost forgotten that it was someone that I pretty much despise at the table with us."

"If you don't mind my asking," said Tomoyo. "Why do you find it so hard to get along with Malfoy-san, other then that his attitude can be rather off putting?"

"Well, other than that," started Harry. "I suppose it would be his lack of, oh, I don't know," he gestured his hands dramatically, as if he was trying to extract the right word. "Soul," he finished almost seriously.

Tomoyo had an odd look on her face. "Well, I suppose that's a bit harsh," Harry amended. "I guess given everything that's happened in the past we've just never bothered to find an excuse not to dislike him."

"And it doesn't help that he never makes any effort to be anything but cruel to us," said Hermione.

"Maybe," said Sakura. "But it never seems that you guys try to make an effort either." The trio just had identical looks of guilt on their faces. "I know it's not just your fault, but it couldn't just be his. Perhaps if you all took just a little effort and met each other half way, then it wouldn't be so bad."

"I guess," said Harry, and the other two just nodded their understanding. "As long as Malfoy puts his fair share in," he added, the two just nodded again.

Hotaru was getting tired of the silence as she, Syaoran, and Draco made their way to the Slytherin common room. "So, it wasn't that bad, was it, Draco-kun?" she asked.

Draco shrugged, "I guess not. I mean, it could have been worse."

"Yeah, you could have just kept on running your mouth, and gotten yourself pelted with jinxes," said Syaoran.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco huffed.

"I didn't mean for it to come out that rude, but I just meant that you're getting better at holding your tongue," Syaoran replied.

"It seems you need some help in that department," Draco said under his breath.

"You two are more alike then I'm sure you'll ever let on," said Hotaru. The boys just turned to look at her and exchanged identical looks of disbelief.

Syaoran sighed, "She's right." Draco wore a look of confusion. "I'd never admit to ever being remotely like you."

All three teens couldn't help but laugh at this, but the laughter died as they noticed a small cat disappearing around a corner. "It's Mrs. Norris," said Draco. "We'd better hurry before she lets Filch know we're out of our house." They then made a mad dash for the common room and didn't stop for breath until they were safely inside.

Since it was still somewhat early, the three figured they try to finish their homework before turning in, so they found three empty chairs in a quiet corner.

While they were huddled in the corner of the common room, the three were being eyed wearily by several suspicious characters.

"Hey, Draco." Draco recognized the voice and hoped that if he ignored it, it would go away. "Draco," said the voice again (guess it didn't work) as the person perched herself on the corner of his armrest.

"Hi, Pansy," he said dryly. Pansy Parkinson and her friends, a very large girl, Hermione had complications with, **Millicent Bulstrode, and some other unsightly looking, well **I'm guessing they're females, made their way to the semi secluded corner.

"Where've you been," she asked as sweetly as possibly. Although, seeing as it was Pansy, it sounded more like nails on a chalkboard. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Well, you've found me…What?" he asked rather impatiently.

"It's just been awhile since we've really hung out," she said. "I mean, we haven't gotten to talk as much and I was just wondering when we would finalize our plans for the winter dance," she said, and gave sharp look in Hotaru's direction, who just smiled sweetly (no really, Hotaru is able to pull off the sweet thing).

"Are you mad? It's only, what, the second week of school, the dance is months away," said Draco. "And besides, we never made any plans, so how could we 'finalize' them?"

"Well, I was sure that since we had such a wonderful time last year I was sure you'd be asking me again," she replied. "After all, who else is there possibly worth while to bring to a dance than myself?" She looked in Hotaru's direction at this and gave a little sneer; perhaps believed to be a mischievous smile.

Draco was finding it hard not to just blow up at this crazy girl as, despite appearances, he'd had a horrible time with her the year before. It's the voice, _shudder_, oh, it's just awful, poor girl. To his surprise he made up his mind to try and tell her off nicely, tried being the key word here; Hotaru might have had something to do with the attempt. "Well it's not as if things can't wait, what if something comes up. I mean, we don't want to finalize anything this early on."

Pansy, not recognizing rejection, which is surprising as it probably happens to her a lot, took this as a beacon of hope. "Okay, so we'll just talk about this a little later on then? Good," she said without waiting for conformation. "So, I'll see you tomorrow then. However, there's just something that's been bothering me." Draco was really starting to lose what little patience he had left.

"What?"

"I don't really know what's going on but I don't like that you're spending so much time with that girl," she said harshly, without trying to lower her voice.

"Well, I really don't see any reason why you would think you have any control over who he spends time with," uttered Hotaru without thinking.

"What did you say," Pansy's falsely sweet voice turned ice cold.

"I only meant that he's fully capable of choosing his company wisely," she replied.

"Obviously he's not if he's hanging out with the likes of you."

"I suggest you redirect that phrase, as I'm not one that could be mistaken as the bad seed. I honestly think you should reconsider your definition of bad company and realize that only a deaf person could truly stand to be in your presence, as he would have the perfect defense against your hideously evil, banshee shrill you would call a voice." As if a strange shadow has passed over her, Hotaru was quickly jolted out of her stupor and realized what she must sound like. "I am so sorry," she said with genuine sincerity. "I shouldn't have said that, especially since I don't even know you. Perhaps we could start over. I'm-" Pansy held up her hand to silence her.

"I can assure you that the next time we meet won't be pleasant, I'd stay out of my way if I were you."

"I guess I-" Pansy stopped Hotaru again.

"You do realize that we share the same dorm. I suggest you sleep with one eye open. See ya." Pansy then stormed off.

"Empty threats," said Hotaru. "Although her larger friend might actually be willing to go through with what ever she plans." Hotaru shook her head. "I think being in this house is making me lose myself. I thought that after that Mistress 9 incident my Saturn side was more balanced with my actual self. I'll just have to make sure keep it under control. I just really don't want a repeat of my last life."

The two boys just didn't know how to react to this. Luckily, Luna came trotting over, now they wouldn't have to fail horribly at comforting Hotaru.

Luna cast a weary look in Draco's direction. "It's okay, he already knows, well…sort of."

The cat gave a small sigh, "I could tell that being away from all the other soldiers was going to cause problems, especially being so far away from Usagi." Hotaru just looked at her questioningly. "Well, without the constant presence of the silver crystal, it would be just a matter of time before your Saturn side would start to show though."

"But I thought that I was healed?"

"We thought so too, at first, but we could sense something hiding just beneath the surface of your countenance. This was why I jumped at the chance to accompany you to this school, so I could keep a close watch, in case something tried to emerge. But I know that it'll all be alright, you just have to keep tabs on your temper, you'll be alright," Luna assured her.

"Thanks, Luna," said Hotaru, almost despairingly. The two boys, meanwhile, just sat not knowing how to react to Hotaru's predicament, merely sat and fidgeted nervously. Draco was getting tired of staying quiet.

"I'm sure it'll be alright," he practically blurted. Hotaru turned to look at him. "I mean, if you weren't able to hold your temper, and keep yourself, there's no doubt that I'd already be dead."

"I guess," she said, the smiled. "That means a lot, coming from you. Thanks, Draco-kun." Draco could barely hold back a smile, and blushed like mad. Syaoran getting tired of feeling awkward decided that it was time to go to bed; the others agreed, and they set off to their respective dorms. But not before Syaoran gave Hotaru a charm to ward off evil, in other wards a very effective shield against burly girls, just in case.


	9. Quidditch?

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, nor Harry Potter. They are the sole property of the original creators, i.e. not me. This story is merely to entertain; mainly me. So please don't hurt me legal persons.

Quidditch?

The next several weeks passed in a blur of lots of work, to lots more work, as the teachers piled it on for the end of the year O.W.L.s and the first Hogsmeade trip was approaching fast.

"So what exactly is the Hogsmeade trip?" asked Sakura.

"It's a chance for the students of Hogwarts to get a break form school and to see what a real wizarding village is like," said Hermione.

"Okay…" Sakura still seemed a little confused as she stared at the bulletin board posting of the next Hogsmeade trip, to be held in two weeks. "But what can you do in Hogsmeade? Is it just like a tour thing or can you just see the sights on your own."

"You get to be on your own in Hogsmeade. There's no tour guide, but I could give you a tour as I've been there several times. But mostly there are just shops and pubs, yet still very interesting-I mean, to be around a place of just the wizarding sort, it's pretty cool. I suppose it's kind of like Diagon Alley, but with actual residents of the area."

"That makes sense, I guess," said Sakura. "So there are a lot of wizarding shops then?"

"Yes, but not as many as Diagon Alley," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but the best place is Zonko's Joke Shop," said a tall red headed boy, who had walked up behind the two.

"There's nothing better than a good joke shop," said the red head's duplicate.

"Oh, hello, Fred, George," said Hermione. "I don't think you've all properly met. This is Sakura," she gestured towards her friend. "Sakura, this is Fred and George, Ron's brothers."

Sakura gave a slight bow. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard stories of your practical jokes, very amusing," she said smiling. The two boys, of course, blushed.

"I see our fame has preceded us," said Fred. "Who knew we were already legendary? I mean, we've yet to officially open our shop and we're already getting rave reviews from over sea students."

"Well, Harry and Ron speak very highly of you," said Tomoyo, as she joined the group. "I only wish I could use my camera to record your schemes, I'm sure they're all worth documenting."

"Oh, stop," said Fred, in a mock bashful way.

"No seriously, I do look forward to your future pranks," she said. "And as this is your last year here, I suspect great things to come."

"Thanks," said Fred and George in unison.

"You know we do have great things planned for this year," said George. He and Fred then walked off discussing possible schemes.

"You really shouldn't encourage them like that," said Hermione.

"Aww, why?" asked Tomoyo.

"Because I'll probably have to be one of the ones to punish them when they do pull something off," she replied.

"Well, who says they'd actually get caught?" said Sakura.

"I'd know it was them," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but would any one else suspect them if there was no evidence?" asked Tomoyo.

"I suppose that under certain circumstances I'd be able to let it slide," she replied reluctantly. Just then Ron entered the common room and joined them at the bulletin board.

"Well, come on then," he said making gestures that he wanted them to follow him. "The quidditch tryouts are this afternoon, I want to be able to get some practicing in before then."

"Oh, are you trying out?" asked Hermione. "I wasn't sure that you wanted to play keeper."

"Well, I don't really, but I do want to be on the team," he replied.

"Is it too late to sign up?" inquired Sakura.

"No, you just have to show up, pretty much," said Ron.

"So, how exactly do you play?" she wondered.

"Well, if we hurry I'll give you the short version on the way to the tryouts," said Ron. "That way you'll have at least some idea of what to do." Ron thought for a second, "You do have a broom don't you?"

"No, why?" asked Sakura.

"Well," started Ron. "You will need to fly on one."

"Do you need a broom to fly, 'cause I can fly without one."

"It is sort of an important part of-you can fly without one?" he asked in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"With the help of my Sakura cards. Actually, I have to see Professor McGonagall today to test my magical prowess in what I've learned here and with my cards."

"What exactly do these Sakura cards do?"

"Well, if you all want to I don't think Professor McGonagall would mind if I gave a demonstration."

Both Ron and Hermione were interested to see how it was that she's able to fly without the aid of a broom.

"Oh, so about a broom though," said Sakura. "I could probably get one, just not by today's tryouts."

"Alright, you could borrow mine for today, since I doubt it'll be more than one person trying out at a time," he said.

"Thank you very much, Ron-kun," she said smiling. Ron, of course blushed, who can resist that face?

Ron tried to explain the basic concept to Sakura, as they made their way to the field. Sakura had never been more confused in her life. Quaffle, Snitch? What kind of words were these any way. Hermione then jumped in to help with the explanation. "See it's kind of like soccer but on brooms, and instead of just one large goal they have three hoops you could put the main ball, or Quaffle through, sort of like making a basket, in basketball. They just add in other obstacles, like the Bludgers. Avoid those at all costs and the Snitch is what signals the end of the game when caught."

Sakura, Tomoyo, Ron, and Hermione then made their way to the quidditch field. Harry was already there to judge the tryouts. Sakura had at least some sense of the game when they arrived, but figured she'd pick it up as she played.

The stands were starting to fill up with the rest of the Gryffindor house, including a few from the other houses, two of which were Hotaru and Syaoran (of course), and those who just want to scope out the competition.

"So, do you think that Sakura-chan has any idea of what she's doing?" Hotaru asked of Syaoran.

"Well, I just know that Sakura takes to pretty much any sport really. Being athletic is one of her greatest strengths," he replied as they made their way over to Tomoyo and Hermione.

"So where's Harry," Hotaru asked.

Tomoyo pointed to the group floating over the field. "He's over there with the rest of the team," she said. "They have to judge everyone together so they can come to a decision once the tryouts are done."

"So when is Sakura-chan going to be up?" asked Syaoran.

"She and Ron are somewhere at the end of the list," replied Hermione.

"They're just saving the best for last," said Tomoyo.

"Oh, I think they're starting now," said Hermione, as players started taking the field. There were about 12 people to tryout for the keeper position. Most of them were 2nd and 3rd years, although there was one 7th year that was determined to join the team. He was over looked every previous year, for good reason, as the only ball he was able to stop during his tryout was the one that hit him square in the face. This of course lost him votes due to the fact he'd admitted that it wasn't on purpose.

The 7th year was approached by a Slytherin "congratulating" him. "That was a wonderful trick-catching the ball with your face. Next thing you know you'll be shooting goals with your ass," the Slytherin mocked. (Poor guy)

"Finally its Ron's turn, then its Sakura's," said Hermione.

Ron's performance was only less than thrilling; although he did manage to block most of the quaffles.

Last, but certainly not least was Sakura's chance to prove her stuff. Since this was her first time on a broom the team suggested that she take a few minutes to get used to it, but she declined, saying that no one else had a warm up time. She was quite a natural on a broom (surprise, surprise); she also managed to block every quaffle.

"Even on Wood's best days he wasn't able to block all of them," exclaimed the team's captain, Angelina.

The vote was unanimous; Sakura was to be the new keeper. Of course, the team didn't want to seem too enthusiastic, so Angelina decided to make an announcement-"Thank you to everyone who tried out. We're going to add up the votes and the new keeper will be posted on the bulletin on Monday."

After the announcement, Harry joined the group on the other side of the field. "So who are you guys going to pick?" asked Hermione.

"I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to say," he said while grinning.

"It's obvious they're going to pick Sakura," said Ron gloomily.

"That's not for certain," said Sakura. "You were doing far better than all the others. And besides, your brothers are on the team, I'm sure they'll vote in your favor."

"Thanks, but you obviously don't know my brothers very well," said Ron. "But it's okay; I'd rather be beater or a chaser. I'll just tryout again next year."

"Oh, yeah, Professor McGonagall's supposed to be meeting me out here for my check up," said Sakura, just as the professor was making her way towards the group. "If you guys wanna see the 'Sakura Cards' feel free to stick around."

"Miss Kinomoto, Your evaluation starts, now," said Professor McGonagall.

Sakura made her way to the center of the field. Since McGonagall new the basics of Sakura's power, the way they decided to test her skills was to make an obstacle course of things she would have to both block and attack, to test her offense and defensive powers, using both "traditional" magic as well as the CREATE card of Sakura's.

Sakura then took out a small key and said "The key which hides powers of the stars! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract! RELEASE!" The key then began to glow and transformed into a baton sized wand. Just as she transformed her wand the test had begun. Most of the obstacles were in the air so to show off her first talent Sakura took out the FLY card.

The card hovered above her, as she held out her wand, "FLY!" she yelled. Wings then appeared on her back. The group watching was a bit awestruck at this.

"So that's what she meant by being able to fly without a broom," said Ron.

Sakura put on an impressive display of power weaving in and out of things thrown in her way, with the occasional block from SHEILD and mainly on the offence with her most trusted card WINDY. There was one obstacle that everyone but Syaoran missed. Later it was explained that she had used TIME to get around that part of the test. When all was destroyed or avoided Professor McGonagall had called Sakura back to the ground.

"Well, I'll be showing my notes to the Headmaster," she said. Then, turning to the rest of the group, "Later this week I'll be testing you Miss Daidouji."

Hotaru then exchanged glances with Syaoran. "Professor, when will you be testing us?" she asked.

McGonagall turned to Hotaru, "You two will be tested this week by Professor Snape, as he's head of your house. He'll be notifying each of you prior to your appointment." The two just nodded their acknowledgement. They saved their sour looks of dismay for when the professors back was turned…ugh, who wants to spend their time stuck with Snape.

After a moment of thought Sakura tuned to Tomoyo. "Tomoyo-chan?" she started. "Exactly what is Professor McGonagall supposed to be testing you on? Because as far as I, or anyone else for that matter, knows you never showed any magical prowess before coming here."

"Well, that's sort of what our meeting is about," she said a bit timidly. "We're going to be meeting with the Headmaster as well, since I still don't understand how I'm actually able to use magic either. Apparently he knows as he was the one that had asked for us all specifically to attend this school."

"You mean to say that Professor Dumbledore knows about us all? I mean, how is that possible since we've never even met the guy?" asked Syaoran in disbelief.

"I'm not entirely sure; Professor McGonagall was a little reluctant to talk about it. I suppose I'll find out at my appointment though," said Tomoyo.

Come Monday the results of the tryouts were posted, and as predicted, Sakura was made the new keeper.

"See I told you they wouldn't pick me," said Ron. "I'm not worried though, once my brothers are gone next year, my chances to be on the team next year will be doubled."

"Way to stay on the bright side Ron," said an encouraging Sakura.

"It's not just the bright side; it's the fact of the matter: my brothers would never knowingly let me on the team…even at home they were on the opposing side." The others just laughed nervously at this statement, not wanting to be mean, but also hoping he was just making a joke and not being utterly bitter.

So to change the subject, "I have my meeting with Professor McGonagall tonight," said Tomoyo.

"Oh," said Sakura.

"Yah, oh…"

"Be sure to report back to us any information you can find about why we were all asked here," said Syaoran.

Morning came with no new information. "_I'm the one to be asking the questions here, Miss Daidouji, _was all she would say," reported Tomoyo. "But on the bright side my ways with the wand are _coming along nicely. _So she says. This place is so different from school in Japan, I'd never be asked to make a mouse into a tea cozy there…Although I still have no clue as to why I was able to come here and use powers I shouldn't have. She wouldn't even tell me that much, but just summed it up to having a clear aptitude for magic."

"Well," started Hermione. "I was muggle born and had no clear sign of knowing that I'd one day be using magic and be one of the top in my class until I received the acceptance letter."

"But the way that magic was supposed to work, as far as our knowledge, I shouldn't be able to have any sort of knowledge of this world."

"Maybe that's why…you actually were able to know of this world. You were able to pick up on the small signs, and you were there at the right time to catch Sakura on camera. Maybe its your sixth sense that helped you get here…and not to mention the mechanics of the two types of magic are different, as it seems that the use of the 'Clow,' or the now 'Sakura' cards, uses the energy of the magic wielder, as apposed to what you're learning now, seems to be the grasp of being able to use a wand properly. Or something like that."

"I guess that makes sense in a way," said Tomoyo thoughtfully. The rest of the group, however, all had a quizzical if not almost blank stare on their faces.


End file.
